The price to pay
by Happymood
Summary: Mermaids are dark, lethal creatures, and only fools try to get closer to them. Antonio never considered himself a fool, not even after meeting a merman called Lovino. Lovino, on the other, realized he was a fool when he decided he wanted nothing more than to gain legs and visit the world of the human that saved him. A revisitation of the tale "The little mermaid". Spamano.
1. Prologue

_Prologue_

A bolt of light ripped the sky suddenly in half, thunder rolled soon after and then a drop of rain fell on Antonio Carriedo's nose, then two, three. The wind violently whipped his hat away, and Antonio desperately tried to catch it back as it flew in the sky and disappeared in the horizon. Antonio stared at the black clouds rolling in the distance, and his heart galloped against his ribcage. There was the snapping sound of a rope breaking and somebody relaying orders in a desperate voice trying to overcome the continuous, violent flapping of the sails.

Antonio didn't know why, but he was suddenly reminded of those bad pirate movies he sometimes watched with his friends on lonely Saturday night. He wondered what he was doing again, on the "Merry Tuna" as the ship was called.

"Oh, yeah." Antonio thought as the waves slapped against the ship and a salty spray suddenly hit the deck and wetted Antonio's plastic boots. "I was searching for a job and there was a vacant place as fisherman on this ship."

Antonio tried to gain his balance when the ship shook violently again. It was ironic that the ship was called "Merry Tuna" when there wasn't anything "merry" about it. The thought made him laugh like a silly man, but it was actually a cover-up for the terror he was actually feeling.

"This is no job for a newbie like you, lad!" A man shouted reaching Antonio with unsteady steps making Antonio snap out of his thoughts. "It's bad enough as it is, but if you keep standing in the middle of the deck, you will just cause trouble!"

"Oh, sorry!" Antonio exclaimed and stepped back. Thunder rolled above them again, and Antonio almost slipped on the wet deck, startled. The man, Antonio suddenly remembered his name was Carlos, grabbed him by the arm, and grinned widely at him.

"It's alright!" He exclaimed, "Just go below deck and let us handle this. You don't know how to command a ship, do you, lad?"

"I think this is a good opportunity as any to start, right?" Antonio said smiling back at him. "Just tell me what to do."

Carlos actually studied him for a while before he nodded to himself, turned around and shouted:

"_DAVID_!"

A man on the other side of the deck whipped his head to look at them.

"Go to him." Carlos said to Antonio as rain fell violently on them. "He will tell you what to do."

"Yessir." Antonio said, complacently, and smiled at the other man, who patted him on the back in a way Antonio supposed was meant to be encouraging. Antonio's nostrils were filled with the smell of salt, rotten fish and ozone. A combination he had never smelled before.

"You are the newbie." David exclaimed over the storm when Antonio managed to walk the slippery deck to him.

"Antonio." Antonio said. David handed him a rope and smiled encouragingly at him.

"It's a pity your first day is a stormy one." David said. "I'm David, by the way."

Antonio grabbed the rope, not really knowing what to do. The mast creaked behind him and David shot a worried look at it before turning his attention to him once more.

"So, just hang on the rope and-!" David started, but then the ship suddenly jolted and they both let go of the rope for the sake of grabbing onto the railing before the fell in the black waters of the ocean.

It happened fast.

David shared a worried look with him, and then both of them faced the suddenly calm waters of the sea. The sky around them was still ablaze with lighting, but it looked distant and quite out of reach. The smell of rotten fish was more acute now, and Antonio couldn't hear the thunder anymore.

"What's going on?" He asked blinking down at the ocean. It was unnaturally silent, and the ship too wasn't moving anymore, as if the waves weren't of any concern of her. The rain had suddenly stopped slicing the air and the atmosphere turned suddenly cold.

"Are we in the middle of it?" David asked, but Antonio wondered if he was asking him or if he was just wondering out loud. Antonio had no idea what 'it' was, and he certainly had no idea that such a thing could happen.

He turned around just to see the same stricken expressions on his companions. Carlos too was staring at the waters deep in concentration.

Suddenly there was a splash.

Its sound was so strange in that reign of silence that it made everyone turned to look into the water. All the sailors grabbed the railings and looked down, even Antonio, who let out a cry when he realized something dark was moving under water. There was a thumping of feet as everyone left their posts and went to where Antonio and David were standing.

"It was there!" Antonio exclaimed and pointed down at the ocean. "It looked like-!"

And then everyone saw it. It came out of the water and looked at them, it's human face weirdly pale and uncannily beautiful. Antonio stared at the creature long, black hair falling on its shoulders. His eyes trailed downwards, trying to make sense of the blur hiding underwater.

"A mermaid." One of the sailors said. Antonio blinked at him, then at the woman looking up at them, smiling kindly and reaching out as if she wanted help to climb on board. Antonio had heard stories about mermaids, but had never regarded them as true, and they never described mermaids to be quite as beautiful as this one. Nevertheless here she was, diving back in the water and disappearing from sight.

"Quick." Carlos suddenly whispered so softly it was a miracle everyone heard him. "Quick." His voice was shacking with fear. "Everyone go below deck, somebody start the engine and let's get the hell out of here."

All sailors looked at him, not really understanding why the man was suddenly so terrified.

"She was so beautiful." Someone said, "Seriously, no divine creature such as her would-!"

"Shut up." Carlos whispered, "And do as I say before they come back, or we are food for the fish."

In the moment there was another splash, and Antonio and the others looked down again only to see that other mermaids had joined the first one. Antonio could see there were mostly women, but there were some mermen too.

"Quick…" The man said again, but to no avail, as no one from the crew was actually paying attention to him.

"Who are you?" One of the mermaids suddenly said, tilting her head in a curious way. Antonio stared at her, then at the merman swimming right behind her. He looked young, almost boyish, but his hazel eyes showed he was much older than he appeared. Antonio stared at him, and the merman stared right back.

"Oh, lady." One of the sailors exclaimed and leaned against the railing, almost ready to fall down in the water. The mermaid smiled at him, kindly, and reached out to him. Antonio swore he saw a slightly pointy canine peaking under those red lips.

"Andrew, no!" Carlos shouted, but it was too late. With a strength Antonio would have never imagined a mermaid to possess, she grabbed the planks and started climbing up the ship with the sole force of her arms. She suddenly grabbed Andrew by the shirt and dragged him down, letting gravity do all the work. There was a loud splash and then panic arose between the sailors when the waters suddenly turned red.

"QUICK! QUICK!" Carlos bellowed and everyone scattered around shouting orders left and right, as the ship suddenly jolted again, more violently this time. Antonio could see the reason for it as he looked down and saw that the mermaids have started attacking the ship. The creatures started to sing right then, a song so beautiful and terrifying that it made Antonio want to jump down in their embrace. His eyes found the merman that was staring at him a while before and made a step towards him, as if mesmerized.

"Get down!" David shouted and grabbed Antonio by the shirt, pulling him away from a grasping hand. The mermaid screeched in agony, and Antonio looked up at David, panting slightly.

"_Gracias_." He said, his native language slipping from his lips. Antonio was too scared to think in English right then. David shrugged it off and scrambled on his feet to help the others and row the ship and the crew to safety. Antonio remained right where he did, not really knowing what to do. He felt the ship move under him and the roar of the engines suddenly covered the melodious song of the mermaids and the frightened cries of the men dragged overboard.

Suddenly the rain started beating down on them again and the wind howled around then. Thunder bowled, and Antonio looked up at the black sky, feeling happy to be alive.

"Are you okay, lad?" Carlos suddenly kneeled down beside him and put a calm arm around Antonio's shoulders. Antonio blinked at him and let out a huff of air.

"Are we safe?" Antonio asked. Carlos smiled at him, but it was bitter.

"Yes." Carlos said. He patted Antonio on the back and helped him on his feet. "It's really bad for business when the only things one brings back at home are bad news."

"I am so sorry for Andrew and-!" Antonio said then. Carlos shook his head.

"It's not your fault, lad." Carlos said, "Come and help me out. Petrol is hard to come by these days, and I used it all up to start the damn engines. We need to row our way back to land."

Antonio nodded and followed Carlos below deck. He slipped one or twice, but he didn't know if it was because of the slippery deck or the continuous shaking of his legs. Throughout the journey back, Antonio couldn't stop thinking about the merman that had been staring at him. He wondered if the other had been picturing how to eat him all the while, and the thought made him almost slip again.

**A.N. I really don't have the time to write a new fanfic, but this idea just took hold of me and wouldn't let me sleep. This is so different from what I usually write, but I hoped you liked it so far. I didn't think of any real period for the setting, so I decided to imagine an alternative universe where the old and new technology coexists, and supernatural creatures are the norm. I hope it makes sense. **


	2. The merman

Antonio Fernandez Carriedo arrived in that tiny town situated in the northern part of the Continent on a cold April morning. Coming from the Southern Countries, he wasn't used to the cold and the light rain falling down on him only increased his curiosity. During that time he had no clothes that could keep him warm at night, and he tried to make do sleeping balled up next to the only working stove of the cheap room he managed to find and rent for the first three months as an immigrant.

Things went slightly better after that thanks to the fortunate encounter with an immigrant like himself called Francis, who managed to find two free rooms in a much larger and cozier house situated in the center of town. The landlord was called Gilbert Beilschmitt, who was loud and obnoxious like all landlords in that part of the Continent, but who was much friendlier than any nobleman that Antonio would ever meet in the whole World. Neither Antonio nor Francis could say they liked him from the start, though, but Gilbert was a good guy and excellent company after a mug of beer or two, so their relationship soon became a friendly one right from the beginning.

Antonio was glad about that because he wasn't particularly keen on bowing to nobles and calling them "Sir" like etiquette would ask from him. Francis was better at this stuff, Antonio noticed. He was much more diplomatic, and the sarcasm behind his "Yessirs" could be picked up only by well-trained ears, which Gilbert seemed not to possess. Antonio liked Francis gallantry and Gilbert's down to earth methods, and thanks to them he slowly stopped feeling like an unwanted immigrant and more like a new citizen of the North.

His new life turned to better when Gilbert told them about the offered job on the "Merry Tuna" as a fisherman. Francis politely declined the job, saying his hands weren't made to handle fish, while Antonio just nodded, glad to have something much more interesting to do than washing dishes for Mr. Kirkland, the owner of the pub right in Grey Street. Plus the pay was so much better.

Antonio realized why after his first day on board. The encounter with the mermaids had completely terrorized him, and that first night that terrifying song kept hunting his dreams.

"I never saw a mermaid." Gilbert stated with an amused smile on his lips one evening when Antonio finally opened up. If the tone of voice was anything to go by, he obviously regarded Antonio's story as nothing more than a fisherman's tale. "Are they as ugly as they make them out to be?"

"My last roommate told me he used to live with a ghost once." Francis said, totally serious. "It wasn't one of those demonic ones, just a poor soul that killed himself because no one noticed him. Still, my roommate was totally terrified of him and decided to find somewhere else to live."

"He killed himself because no one noticed him?" Gilbert asked surprised, "Poor soul."

"Why hasn't he followed the light?" Antonio asked, glad for the change of conversation, but Francis shrugged, sipping his glass of wine.

"I don't know and my roommate didn't think of asking him."

Antonio thought that he probably would have done the same.

The day after the encounter with the mermaids, Antonio returned back to the "Merry Tuna" set up of quitting the job once and for all. The rest of the sailors, though, seemed to have forgotten about it, and even if they spoke of Andrew with pity and sadness, they continued their job as always..

Nevertheless he returned back home every night and asked permission to use Gilbert's internet. He clicked site after site, searching for information on mermaids, but nothing came close to the truth.

Those first days after the incident, Antonio was a little wary of the ocean at first, always looking down at the waves when he pulled up the nets with his companions. When nothing out of the ordinary happened that day or the day after that, Antonio started to feel much better and he started enjoy his life at sea as if he was born to be on board.

Nevertheless, Antonio was suddenly reminded that they weren't alone in the Ocean while he and his companions pulled the last net of the day on deck one evening. Antonio was sweaty and reeked of fish and couldn't wait to be finally on earth again. He was dreaming of a hot bath and a warm plate of soup when the unthinkable happened.

"Up!" One of the sailors was shouting, and Antonio recognized George's voice, one of the loudest people on the ship. He didn't turn to look at him, though, and kept pulling the rope.

"God!" George exclaimed with a laugh, "We have caught something big here!"

Some people laughed with him and started pulling harder. Indeed the net was weighting a ton more than before, and Antonio felt some sweat trickle down his forehead for the effort. The men started chatting happily among each other, curious to see what they managed to fish, when suddenly the net was on board and everybody fell suddenly silent.

Antonio and many other men let the ropes go as if burned when they finally saw what they have brought on the ship. Antonio's eyes became wide as saucers at the sight of a siren tossing and hissing inside the net, but what he felt was nothing compared to the utter horror that engulfed him when he recognized the merman in question. It was the same one that had stared at him that night so long before, and Antonio watched it trying to frantically reach them from inside the net, hissing and shouting something in a language none of the sailors could understand.

"Let the mermaid go!" David suddenly exclaimed, in panic. "This is not good!" He added after, "What if the others come now?"

"I suggest we take the merman and return back to land as soon as possible." George said self-assuredly, but his voice betrayed his fear. "It might worth a million."

"It's bad luck. Don't you know that catching one, means you are going to die? " Another sailor said and everyone started whispering to each other at that, panic spreading among them like fire. The merman suddenly screamed in agony and everyone fell silent again, turning abruptly to look at the creature. Antonio remained speechless, watching the creature's eyes watching them one after the other.

Antonio could finally see the creature's grey tail that merged with the human upper body in such a natural way that one couldn't distinguish when one part started and the other ended. Antonio's trailed on the creature's body as if mesmerized until he fixed his gaze on the other's eyes. After all those researches in the internet, Antonio had come to the conclusion that mermaids were nothing more than killing machines, a soulless animal that only purpose in life was to kill and cause harm.

He was so convinced of it that he was taken aback when he recognized the emotion in the creature's eyes. It was shacking with fear.

It was afraid.

"I say George is right." Another sailor piped in breaking the silence, "This creature is worth millions. All of us could gain something from it and I need new shoes."

"What if it's not alone?" David asked, always down to earth, "We have been discussing it long enough and-!"

Antonio stopped listening altogether. The merman's look was now fixed on him and there was a note of recognition in his hazel eyes that Antonio couldn't ignore. It was at that point that Antonio made his decision. He reached down and pulled a dagger he had in case of emergency strapped to his tight, and walked fast to where the creature was trapped in the net. The merman started hissing and thrusting again and Antonio heard the shocked shouts of the sailors behind him.

Antonio raised his dagger and started cutting the ropes, careful to safely be out of the merman's reach. The creature, though, remained motionless until Antonio finally managed to open the net wide enough for the merman to squish out. He looked up at the merman and, as if on cue, he felt someone suddenly pull him away from the creature's grasp. Antonio fell down on the slippery deck with a loud 'oof' and heard more than saw the splash of water as the creature finally broke free and dived into the ocean.

"It could have dragged you down!" David exclaimed angry and relieved at the same time. Antonio glanced at his friend from above his shoulder, and finally noticed the stunned looks the sailormen were giving him.

"Are you nuts?" Someone asked flabbergasted, "It could have killed you!"

"There go our millions." George groaned with a disappointed shake of his head. "And your new shoes, pal."

"I say fuck the millions." David said standing up and helping Antonio on his feet. "Let's get the hell back on land before that creature decides to bring company."

No one complained to that, and Antonio was left alone with the ruined net at his feet as everyone scattered around to prepare for the journey back. David shot a disappointed look at the net and then said:

"I am keeping that from your wage."

"Fine." Antonio whispered with a smile. David's lips turned slightly up and with a pat on Antonio's shoulder went to help the others out. Antonio looked at him walk away, then back at the ruined net. It was in that moment that something caught his eyes and he kneeled down trying to see what was sparkling between the dead fishes. He hesitantly reached down and pushed some algae away until he found what he was looking for.

"Oh." Antonio blinked and pulled a necklace up. A golden little shell was hanging from a fine thread, and Antonio studied it for a while, amazed. Just in that moment the ship jolted and started moving, and Antonio immediately put the necklace in his pocket, forgetting about it altogether in order to do his job as a sailorman.

It was until much later when he finally returned home and took his clothes off that he remembered about it. Antonio was ready to take a shower when the golden necklace slipped from his pocket on the bathroom's floor. Antonio raised an eyebrow at the clinging sound and then kneeled down to pick it up.

At first Antonio had thought it had been a shell died gold, but as he looked at it better, he finally realized it wasn't a real shell at all. It was made from something that looked like gold, maybe pyrite, Antonio reasoned. The details were beautifully done, and squeezing his eyes Antonio finally made out an inscription on the inner side. Antonio couldn't read it as it was written in a language he didn't know, but he could clearly feel the letters when he passed his fingers on them.

"Hey Antonio are you-!" The door suddenly barged open and Antonio looked up only to see Francis checking him out. "…done?" Francis finished his question and raised an eyebrow at the way Antonio was crouched on the floor. "Are you okay?"

Antonio grinned at him and stood abruptly up hiding the necklace behind his back.

"Yes." Antonio said, "I'll be done in a minute."

Francis didn't look convinced and he looked down at the floor before fixing his eyes on Antonio's face.

"Tell me there were no cockroaches!"

Antonio tilted his head in confusion, then noticing the horrified face of his friend's face, laughed.

"No, no cockroaches." Antonio said, "I just slipped."

Francis let out a sigh of relief and made to go but not before checking Antonio out once more.

"Get over with it then. I really need a bath." Francis complained and then winked at him, "Nice package by the way." He said before closing the door.

Antonio looked down wondering if Francis had noticed the necklace, but then pushed that thought away as there was no way Francis could see behind his back. He stepped into the shower and finally let the water fall on him washing away the smell of rotten fish.

He enjoyed the hot water for a while but then he suddenly groaned and angrily turned the shower off. He stepped out of it and started scrubbing himself dry with the towel he had prepared beforehand.

"What the hell I am doing!" He exclaimed to himself and then laughed at his own idiocy.

"It's everything okay?" Francis called from the other side, but Antonio didn't listen to him. He grabbed the necklace, opened the door stark naked and made a bee line to his room. He didn't hear Francis' questions nor did he pay him any attention as Antonio put on the first clothes he found in his little closet.

"Orange and blue is such an awful combination." Francis commented when Antonio turned to go. "What got your panties in a twist?" Francis asked after a moment of silence. Antonio looked at him and then shrugged his friend's curiosity away.

"I need to see someone." He retorted, flat.

He didn't wait for an answer, and as he practically ran down the stairs and out the door, he hoped that he would manage to get back home alive to apologize for his rudeness.

At that time of the night it wasn't hard to find an abandoned boat and take it without anyone noticing him, and everything was quiet as he rowed alone towards the ocean. Antonio's heart was beating frantically against his chest and he finally stopped rowing when he saw he couldn't see land anymore. The ocean and the sky were pitch-black and Antonio suddenly felt as if floating in the middle of nothing and when Antonio looked down at the waters, the only thing he could see was the reflection of the stars above him.

He wondered if he should just throw the necklace and row as fast as he could back on land, but after a moment of hesitation, Antonio decided to stay where he was and started talking to himself.

"Hey… ehm…" He stuttered and felt a blush ting his cheeks. "You forgot something on board!" He exclaimed, sounding stupid even to his own ears, "Hey, you! I don't know your name… do mermaids have names?" He trailed off and scratched himself behind the ear. "Oh, well." He sighed, "What the hell I am doing here?" He asked the night.

Antonio remained still waiting for some signal, and even if he was scared shitless, he remained where he was for a while more. He had no clock with him and he had to make do with the stars and moon position.

"It's not like I am an expert." Antonio said out-loud, his eyes fixed on the polar star. "But I think that shows North."

He didn't know what he was doing, and he suddenly realized he hadn't thought this through at all. The night turned colder and colder, and he threw the little worn-out blanket someone had forgotten in the boat on his shoulders for warmth.

"I will either die eaten by monsters or from the cold." Antonio whispered to himself. He sighed and looked at the necklace in his hand once more. It sparkled under the moonlight, and ironically the inscription on the inner side became more visible in the dark. Antonio squeezed his eyes and tried to make something out of it, but it was no known language and he couldn't even understand whether they were words or symbols. He thought about the people of the East Continent, with all their ideograms for writing, and he wondered if it was the same thing.

"It's a really beautiful thing." Antonio mused out loud. His voice echoed in the darkness and Antonio couldn't help shivering at the stillness that followed. He looked around him once more, and then decided he had played with fire long enough. He suddenly wondered if the necklace had been a trap, like the siren's song was: a way to bring mesmerized sailors to their death.

Antonio decided he didn't want to risk his life any longer, grabbed the rows and started sailing towards land again, but just in that moment something moved in the water making Antonio stop in his track and watch with widened eyes the shadow swimming around the boat.

It felt like hours, and yet mere seconds had passed until the shadow suddenly peeked out from the water and fixed his hazel eyes on him. Antonio watched the same merman he had rescued some hours before swimming around the boat once more before reaching out and lean against the boat's side, watching Antonio with curiosity.

Antonio's heart was beating fast, sure he was going to die at the creature's hands. The only sound was the splashing of the water caused by the suave movement of the merman's tail.

"Can you speak?" Antonio asked stupidly, and the merman tilted his head in retort. Antonio gulped and pulled the necklace out from his pocket. Tentatively he stretched his hand to the merman, but the latter remained motionless leaning on his hands.

"It's yours, isn't it?" Antonio asked again, his hand still stretched out to the other. "I found it today… I mean…" He laughed. "Do you even understand me?"

The merman's face was serious and there was a perennial scowl on the other's lips Antonio found enticing. Antonio's hands faltered just a bit, but just then the merman reached up and grabbed the necklace from Antonio's shacking fingers.

"I guess I will leave then." Antonio said and grabbed the rows once more.

"Weren't you afraid to come here on your own?" The creature suddenly asked, his voice much rougher than Antonio had expected. Not that Antonio had expected the merman to talk at all, and he snapped his head to look at the other, fascinated.

The merman furrowed his eyebrows.

"You saved my life when the others would have killed me."

"I don't kill for fun." Antonio felt himself saying, and the merman let out a soft snort. "You on the other-!" Antonio started, but the creature shut him up with a look.

"Don't you need to eat in order to live?" The creature asked his voice unnaturally cold. "Or are humans above the basic laws of the world?"

The sarcasm too reached Antonio's ears as something unexpected and he was too fascinated by the other's voice to come up with a witty retort, not that he ever managed to come up with witty retorts. Instead all Antonio could ask was:

"Do you have a name?"

The merman was shocked as much as Antonio himself at that. He let go of the boat and started swimming around it, in a way that reminded Antonio a little too much of that horror movie with sharks he had watched once with his cousins. He was going to be eaten, wasn't he?

"Do you have one?"

Antonio blinked at the creature, who reached the boat again only to lean against the other side.

"Antonio." Antonio answered. The creature stared at him, long, hard and scrutinizing, and Antonio felt suddenly paralyzed. The only thing that actually seemed to move was his raging heartbeat.

"Lovino." The creature –no, Lovino, Antonio realized- said, and then in the blink of an eyes dived underwater again. Antonio looked down at the black waters of the sea, but he couldn't see anything. He waited and waited for a sign but when Lovino didn't come up anymore, he decided he was free to start rowing home.


	3. Drowning

It was Antonio's turn to prepare the nets for the day when he decided that was a good moment as any to simply ask what he needed to know. Weeks had passed since the day he had met the merman, but he couldn't get the encounter out of his head, and every day he would longingly look down at the dark water of the sea searching for those familiar hazel eyes that he was sure he wasn't going to see ever again. He had so many questions and since the Internet couldn't even answer half of them, Antonio decided his best choice would be to ask one of the sailormen.

His best choice was David, who was sitting down next to him and was helping him out by repairing any broken wire he happened to see and that Antonio couldn't knit together.

"Nice weather today, huh?" David asked with a smile. He usually started all conversations that way only to continue by complaining about a thing or another, and even if Antonio would have let him do so any other day of the year, this time he honestly didn't want to hear anything about lack of fish or problem with women, so, before David could utter another word, Antonio asked:

"What do you know about mermaids?"

The question took David by surprise, but he burst out laughing a moment later, patting Antonio on the back in some kind of amused gesture.

"Wasn't the encounter with them enough information to you?" David asked, "But, anyway, you should check the Internet for that. I am sure a lot of people have something to say."

"I don't want to know what a lot of people have to say." Antonio said with a shrug and ripped off some algae that got struck in between the wires. "I wish to know what a sailor has to say."

"Sailors lie sometimes." David stated matter-of-factly.

"Internet is not that good a choice either then." Antonio retorted. David smirked at that and laid the net on his lap turning his whole attention to Antonio, who mimicked his actions.

"Mermaids are a sailorman worst fear, as you saw with your own two eyes." David started, his lips turning up into a smile, "They lure you in with their songs and drag you down in the Ocean to feast on your flesh."

"What else?" Antonio asked his eyes not leaving David's chestnut ones. David stared at him for a while and realizing Antonio wasn't interested in kid stories hi face turned suddenly serious.

"Many things. They say mermaids are not humans, even if they look like us, but they are not monsters either. They can fall in love, and when they do, it is forever."

"Did any mermaid fall in love with a sailor before?" Antonio asked, but David shrugged.

"Those are just stories." He said and looked down at his nets again, "Another thing they say is that, when a mermaid dies, she turns into foam, and that is why there is foam sometimes out in the sea even if there was no boat in the proximity that could have caused it. The worst is if they die for love, then the foam can remain on the surface of the sea for weeks and weeks and neither sun nor rain can wash it away."

"What else?" Antonio asked a little bit disappointed, sure that those were just tales with no foundation whatsoever. David thought it over for a while before opening his mouth again.

"A mermaid's kiss is said to be miraculous. Some say it can make a man return from the death, some say it can render you immortal, and some say that it can make a man see their future. I don't believe this nonsense, as romantic as it sounds." David concluded and then shot a glance at Antonio's way. "But this is not what you wished to hear, was it?"

"Has anyone spoken with one?" Antonio asked, "I mean, do they speak our language? Where do they live? Are they like all the other fishes or do they have built a city at the bottom of the Ocean where-!"

"Stop right there, lad!" David exclaimed with an amused laugh, "No one ever managed to get so close to them as to answer all of that!"

"Sorry." Antonio said and smiled, embarrassed. "I guess I should just get to work."

"Indeed." David agreed and stood up, dragging the net with him. "Let's throw this in the water. I have a feeling today will be quite a fruitful day!"

Antonio nodded and stood up as well. He looked up at the warm sun above them and decided that he had no other option that directly ask that merman, Lovino, instead. Antonio had his doubts they were going to meet again, but he had always been a hopeless romantic and he had never backed down before.

Francis thought that Antonio had found a girl and was seeing her in secret every night, and that was why, when Antonio told him he was going to go out that evening, Francis just shrugged and without looking up from his book asked:

"Is she pretty at least?"

Antonio stopped mid-track on his way out and stared at Francis as if he had grown two heads. Francis sighed and dog-eared the page he was reading to look at Antonio with an elegantly raised eyebrow.

"Don't look so shocked! I am a pro at this." Francis said with pouty lips. "I get you want to keep your relationship with her a secret, but are we going to meet her any day?"

Antonio furrowed his eyebrows, but then smiled and decided that pretending to have a girlfriend was a good excuse as any.

"She doesn't like the thought of being seen with a sailorman." He lied, to which Francis just gaped annoyed.

"I would love to date a sailorman!" Francis exclaimed, "In fact, why don't you dump her and start going out with me?"

Antonio laughed a little and put his warmer coat on. He still remembered how cold it has been that night out at sea and he didn't want to freeze to death.

"I might be late."

Francis smiled and returned back to his book.

"Just take care."

"See you."

Antonio closed the door behind him and made his way to the harbor. The streets were a little busier than last time, but when he reached the docks he managed to find an unattended boat again. He decided that he should probably just pay the owner and buy it, because he felt as if this wasn't going to be the last time he would do such a trip in the darkness.

Antonio rowed to the same spot he had seen Lovino last, but as much as he talked out-loud and tried to make himself be noticed, no mermaid came to the surface to greet him. Antonio waited for a couple of hours, then three, and when he felt too sleepy to keep on waiting, he returned back home disappointed. For three nights straight Antonio did the same, but Lovino never appeared.

One night, though, Antonio decided that maybe the problem was that it was too dark for him to be noticed. When the sailormen fished at night, they used to hang a little light above the water, so the fishes would be lured into the nets. He was so desperate to see Lovino again that he was sure he had a wonderful idea, so the next night he rowed away and out into the Ocean, Antonio brought an old oil lamp Gilbert had with him.

The oil lamp served as a heat source as well and Antonio curled next to it covered in blankets for the best part of night. He looked down at the reflection the lamp was making on the waves and smiled, proud of himself. He started talking out-loud, in the same way he had been doing for the past week, but still there was no trace of the merman.

Antonio waited and waited, the hours ticking by, and at some point he fell asleep, lulled by the waves caressing the boat's side and too tired by lack of sleep to do anything about it.

What suddenly woke him up was the smell of burnt wood.

Antonio saw the unnatural light as if coming out of a dream. He stared at the fire fascinated for a while and then let out a scream when he finally realized that he had kicked the still burning oil lamp in his sleep. The oil had spread around initiating the fire and it was just mere luck that Antonio didn't spill any on himself.

"Idiot! Idiot!" He shouted and tried to throw a handful of sea water on the fire but to no avail. In his haste to extinguish the fire, his feet got tangled up in his blanket and he fell down in the freezing waters of the Northern Sea with a loud splash. Fortunately he managed to get a gasp of air before the waters engulfed him whole and he had enough air to try and swim back on the surface following the light the fire still emanated. His warm coat was too heavy, though, and his soaked clothes and boots made everything even heavier for him to manage to get out and breathe in time. Antonio's vision turned hazy and panic made him open up his mouth in order to breathe, but he drank salty water instead. At that point Antonio tried to take his shoes and coat off, but everything started to get darker before he could do it. The last thing he felt was something grabbing him and taking him away. Then everything turned black.

"You are an idiot."

Those were the first words Antonio heard before he suddenly opened his eyes and turned to the side to throw up seawater. He coughed for a while gulping down mouthfuls of airs in between, unaware of the hand that was caressing the back of his head in a comforting manner. He felt dizzy and sick and he remained still for a while, his eyes focusing and unfocusing on the sand under his finger. He grabbed a handful of it and studied the minerals up close finally feeling the waves softly caressing his legs.

"You could have died." The voice said again, and Antonio abruptly turned to the side again coming face to face with no other than Lovino. The merman was watching him, fascinated, his hand reaching up and touching Antonio's hair.

"You saved me." Antonio tried to say but his throat ached from all the salt he had swallowed. Lovino remained silent, and Antonio watched the way the first rays of the sun hit Lovino's face. The merman was handsome, and Antonio finally noticed the stubborn curl sticking out from Lovino's chestnut hair. Antonio made to touch it, but Lovino swiftly moved out of reach and disappeared into the sea again. Antonio hastily stood up, despite feeling a little bit sick still, and tried to follow Lovino into the water.

"Wait!" Antonio exclaimed, "I want to thank you for-!" He tried to say but stopped, not really knowing if that would help lure Lovino out again. Nevertheless, Antonio heard a splash and he looked down to see Lovino staring up at him.

"You almost died." Lovino said, and Antonio kneeled down in the water so he could be on the same eye-level with the merman. "What were you thinking?" Lovino asked, his voice turning a little bit darker. Antonio stared at him, his mouth hanging slightly open, and Lovino narrowed his eyes at him, tilting his head to the side at the same time.

"I wanted to see you again." Antonio said. Lovino swam a little closer almost getting in Antonio's personal space then back to his previous spot. Antonio couldn't stop finding the merman's movement alluring, and he almost tried to reach for him again, changing idea at the last minute.

"Here I am." Lovino said, his voice unnaturally soft. Antonio stared at him at loss with words, and gulped. The movement hurt his throat even more, but he ignored it.

"Why didn't you kill me?" Antonio asked in a whisper, his eyes glancing behind Lovino's shoulders at his tail and then back to his face again.

"Is that why you want to see me?" Lovino asked, his lips curling into a smirk, "Is it a romantic death what you are searching for? I can grant you that."

"No." Antonio said. Lovino's eyes sparkled with smugness.

"Then what?"

But before Antonio could say anything someone shouted behind him and he suddenly turned to look at the source of the voice. A woman around his age was walking down the beach and was waving at him.

"Are you okay?" The woman asked. Antonio heard a splash and he felt more than he saw that Lovino had disappeared into the water again. He stared at the woman's blond curls bounce on her shoulders as she run to him. Antonio tried to stand up, but his legs gave away beneath him making him fall in the water again. The woman gasped and he was by his side in two strides.

"You are freezing!" The woman exclaimed. "What happened to you? Did your ship sink in the Ocean?"

She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him away. She took her coat off and put it on Antonio's shivering figure.

"Did you see that?" Antonio asked, but the woman only furrowed her eyebrows at him.

"See what?" She asked and looked around, but seeing nothing, she just concentrated on Antonio's face again.

"My ship sank." Antonio said abruptly changing the topic of conversation. "I was fishing on my own-!" Antonio stopped and grabbed her arm to steady himself. "Thanks."

"Poor thing, you look awful!" The woman exclaimed and then looked in front of them again. "Ned!" She shouted. Antonio looked up too and finally noticed a man wearing a blue and white streaked scarf coming their way.

"This is my brother Ned." The woman said with a smile, "I am Bella, by the way."

Antonio coughed and tried to smile back.

"Antonio." He presented himself just when Ned had come close enough to them. Ned and Bella took him to the docks, where they offered him a hot cup of coffee to drink. Antonio tried to be as vague as possible to the why he was found in such a state, and when Ned finally accompanied to Gilbert's home, he was glad to take a shower and skip work for the day.

He had been sleeping for six hours straight when he woke up to Francis and Gilbert staring down at him with worry. Antonio stretched and looked up at them, who sighed in relief in unison.

"We couldn't wake you up." Gilbert said and punched him on the shoulder. "You bastard, we were worried about you! Where have you been tonight?"

"He spent the night with his girlfriend." Francis explained on Antonio's behalf. Gilbert chuckled but then sat down at the end of Antonio's bed and crossed his arms over his chest.

"That doesn't explain why you were soaking wet-!" Gilbert said.

"Or why you returned back with a man." Francis added with a smirk. Antonio stood in a sitting position pushing Francis away from his personal space.

"I had a rough night." Antonio said. "Is there something to eat?" He asked. Gilbert burst out laughing at that, but he did call the cook to prepare lunch for the three of them.

The next day Antonio had to explain his absence to David and told him he had suddenly fallen ill, but David shrugged it off and said that Mr. Beilschmitt had called the previous day and had already explained the situation to him. Antonio returned back to his tasks, happy that he didn't have to tell anyone the whole truth, and he even managed to work side by side with George, who he didn't like so much, without much of a problem.

That evening, though, Antonio slipped out of bed and tiptoed out of the house late in the night when both Francis and Gilbert were deeply sleeping. Antonio didn't need to borrow a boat that time, because as soon as he reached the empty docks, he saw a familiar head picking out of the waters.

He practically ran towards him, the wood creaking under his boots, and laid down on the dock in order to see Lovino better. It was only in that moment that Antonio realized that he was grinning like a madman.

"Hi." He said. Lovino looked stern at him.

"You look well."

"I am. Thanks." Antonio said with a smile, but Lovino just swam around the dock in a bored fashion.

"I don't care about your health."

Strangely enough, Antonio's smile didn't falter at that. Lovino kept swimming in circles, and Antonio watched him fascinated for a while.

"Where do you live?" He suddenly asked his voice breaking the silence around them. Lovino stopped swimming and came closer to him once more.

"In the sea." Lovino said, vague.

"Obviously." Antonio said. He reached down and touched the water with the tip of his finger. It was cold. "I live in a house with two other people. One is an immigrant like me, Francis, while the other is the owner of the house. Gilbert is rich and has a lot of servants but they don't live with us."

Lovino remained silent, and Antonio suddenly wondered if he understood everything he had told him. Indeed Lovino looked troubled for a moment before he asked:

"What is an immigrant?"

Lovino had stated the question as if the answer wasn't really important, but Antonio could see his curiosity in the other's eyes.

"It means Francis and I are not from here. We came here from another country in search of a job. In Francis's case, in search for a partner as well."

"Why?" Lovino asked after a moment of silence.

"Our countries are on the verge of poverty." Antonio explained. "Poverty is where you have nothing, rich is where you have practically everything."

Lovino nodded, deep in thought, and started swimming again. Antonio watched the silver tail sparkle in the moonlight.

"So you don't all fish for food?" Lovino asked. Antonio leaned on his arms and gazed at the waves.

"Well, some of us hunt." Antonio said. "Others have fields. My father used to cultivate tomatoes, carrots and different types of salad. We had olive trees as well, before the big fire at least."

"What are tomatoes?" Lovino suddenly asked, and Antonio blinked at him. Lovino was such a mystery in Antonio's eyes that he didn't realize that Antonio was a mystery to Lovino as well. He smiled at that and drew circles in the water with his fingers. All in all, Antonio though, they had all the time of the world to learn each other.


	4. Stories

Sometimes Antonio could swear he could see mermaids swimming in the sea following the wake of the "Merry Tuna", and more often than not the other sailormen mistook them for dolphins that quickly dived underwater as soon as they wanted to take a longer look at them. Antonio had noticed them for weeks, but they never attacked them like they did on his first day at sea. They were just there, a mere remainder that the Ocean wasn't a lonely place as one might think while sailing on its surface.

When asked, Lovino would tell him mermaids have always been there, but that they made their presence known only when they were out hunting. Antonio wasn't sure if he should be relieved about that piece of information, because now he didn't know if he should be on the alert or not when he saw a mermaid following their ship. Lovino just smiled wickedly at that and reached the side of the boat Antonio, that he had finally bought for the mere purpose of going out late in the night to see the merman, like he always did when he wanted to freak Antonio out. The movement was sinuous, dangerous and always made Antonio's hair stand on edge.

"Like sharks." Lovino softly said. "They are always there, but they only attack when they feel the blood in their nostrils."

It was in moments like those that Antonio seriously feared the merman, when the reminder that Lovino was _not_ human slapped him in the face like iced water. Nevertheless, after weeks of searching for Lovino every night, Antonio had grown used to the other's presence so much that the fact he was talking to a merman, of all supernatural creatures, didn't feel as crazy as it sounded.

It was easy to forget that they belonged to different words, because it was much more interesting, much more fascinating to see Lovino's curiosity than be aware of Lovino's potential threat. Like the times Antonio handed him different human foods or utensils, just to see if Lovino would appreciate or know any of them.

Lovino always stared at the offered items with trepidation. He would never immediately reach out for them, but he would just swim around Antonio's boat, searching something in the other's eyes like a cat rounding a mouse, before he asked, softly, dangerously:

"What's this?"

And Antonio would be like:

"A fork". "A tomato". "Chocolate". "Wine".

Lovino liked dark chocolate, hated the white kind. He couldn't stand marshmallows. He had bitten on a tomato and wondered at the juice trailing down his lips before deciding he loved it. He had stared at the fork for a long while and had cut himself accidentally with a knife, surprising Antonio with the red of his blood. Lovino had dropped a book in the sea and Antonio lost the opportunity to see if mermaids could read their language (they didn't).

Antonio had asked a million questions, and Lovino had answered honestly on just a handful of them. Their world was a secret that Antonio wasn't supposed to know, he reckoned. He could see it in Lovino's eyes how much the thought of speaking too much terrified him. Nevertheless, one day Antonio managed to get a little bit closer to the truth.

"Don't ask about where I live with such lightness." Lovino said, his voice betraying a hint of fear. "There is a city, yes, a whole kingdom divided in North and South."

"Why are you so scared of telling me more?" Antonio asked, and Lovino avoided his eyes.

"I am not." Obviously a lie. "I am not supposed to talk about it. I am not supposed to be here, even. Everyone must do their part, pay what they must in order to live, and when someone doesn't have what they want, they could die. Who is known, goes on. Who doesn't have a connection, remains behind. My brother, who lives in the North, would have talked with you about us much more freely because he does not need to keep secrets."

Antonio couldn't make head or tails about what Lovino was trying to tell him, but he did drop the subject from then on, and focused instead on Lovino's family, which was another sore spot of his, as Antonio slowly figured out.

It was strange how human Lovino became in Antonio's eyes with the passing of time. No matter the old-fashioned way of Lovino's speech, as if he was talking out of a book, no matter how much Lovino couldn't understand the fragility of Antonio's human body and world, Antonio ended up thinking they were not so different after all. Lovino had a family, he lived in a city, he was afraid, he was alone, he could laugh and he could cry.

(Antonio realized that maybe, maybe Lovino was not happy either.)

From his point of view, Lovino wasn't aware that he was doing what he was most afraid of. He wanted to speak with the human; he wanted to understand that man that went against his own fears and common sense in order to search for him every night.

It was strange to say, he could even imagine the surprise in Antonio's face if he told him, but Lovino couldn't see Antonio as a way of nourishment anymore. There was a whole world behind those green eyes that Lovino wanted to explore. What was there outside forks, tomatoes, chocolate and wine?

What was Antonio like out in his own habitat?

Every night he wondered if Antonio would bring him something, and every day Lovino would imagine the things Antonio would tell him. He could even hear the timbre of the other's voice in his head and that blinding smile that felt hotter on Lovino's skin than the sun itself every time he closed his eyes. It was more out of pure curiosity that Lovino swam out of his room every evening to greet Antonio on the surface.

His father and brother didn't know anything about Lovino's small escapades, and he would be thrilled when he managed to sneak out without even the guards noticing him. Lovino swam out of his room and away, following the dolphin's trails up to the ships' usual routes, feeling his heart beat fast inside his chest as he caught sight of the moon's reflection on the surface. Antonio's boat would always be there, and Lovino would always reach out of it, hoping to see him smile as soon as he made his presence known.

"I don't have a brother." Antonio told him once as he trailed circles in the water. The human laughed a little and glanced down at where Lovino was leaning against the planks. "Or a sister for that matter."

"Do you have something to eat with you?" Lovino asked growing bolder with his requests every time. Antonio didn't even look surprised at the sudden change of topic, as Lovino usually did that when Antonio mentioned family relations, and just reached somewhere behind him to take a tomato out.

"It's getting out of season." Antonio explained, but Lovino didn't understand what that meant. He just grabbed the round, juicy object and bit into it. He didn't want to admit out loud how much he loved it, but Antonio had already figured that out well enough. "That means tomatoes are hard to come by these days."

"What's a season?" Lovino asked instead. Antonio gazed at him, and Lovino avoided the other's look, ignoring the way Antonio's eyes studied his face.

"Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring." Antonio listed, but Lovino still couldn't understand. "In Spring we have new trees and flowers, for example, while in Winter everything dies and it's cold."

"What's a tree?" Lovino asked immediately after, finishing his tomato and diving into the water before Antonio could answer. He swam around the boat and came up on the other side. "What's a flower?"

Antonio's eyes followed him, and Lovino wanted nothing more than grab him by the shirt (that was a new word he learnt recently) and drag him down.

"I really can't explain that." Antonio said and laughed turning to look at Lovino again. "It's like… algae maybe?" Antonio giggled and shook his head. "You need to see them for yourself."

Lovino closed his eyes and let the waves caress his face. Silence engulfed them both and neither of them made the tiniest attempt to break it. Suddenly, Lovino felt Antonio's finger on his cheek trail a path to his lips. Lovino let him.

"That doesn't make any sense." Lovino said but he didn't know if he was talking about the trees, algae or that finger on his skin. "I cannot see your world, as you cannot visit mine."

"I heard stories." Antonio said after a moment of thought, "Some say that drinking a mermaid's tear can transform you in one."

"That doesn't make any sense, either." Lovino said with a snort. "You are an idiot if you believe that."

"What should I believe then?" Antonio asked, and Lovino looked up at him, at the honest curiosity in the other's eyes and something in his heart broke. Lovino didn't know what. His resolution not to grow attached, maybe. Or something much darker than that.

After a long moment of silence where the two of them just stared into each other eyes, Lovino dived into the Ocean and returned back home without saying goodbye. For the first time since they have started their late encounters, Lovino wanted to be left alone. He thought he heard Antonio shout his name, but Lovino swam as deep and fast as he could before he could change his mind and go back to him.

The next morning, as Lovino followed the other mermaids for their weekly hunting, he wondered if it was possible to become a human by drinking human's tears. He knew it didn't make sense, but from then on he wondered if there was indeed a way to grow legs and walk side by side with Antonio in his world.

Meanwhile Antonio returned to the "Merry Tuna" with dark circles under his eyes. Since he had started those nightly dates with Lovino, Antonio slept less and less. Francis had countless times told him that he didn't need to see that girl every night, but Antonio couldn't find the courage to admit the whole truth and that he wasn't seeing any girl. Francis had grown on him, like Gilbert did, and Antonio didn't want to worry any of them. Besides Antonio was sure that if they knew mermaids existed, they would want to see one and Antonio selfishly wanted to keep Lovino's existence for himself.

Antonio let out a loud yawn and made his way to the harbor with unsteady steps. He was tired and his eyes couldn't focus on one thing on more than two seconds. It was in that moment that he noticed a bakery just around the corner he always used to pass by to get to where the "Merry Tuna" was. He decided that a nice cup of coffee to go and a bagel would definitely help him wake up.

"Good morning!" A cheerful voice exclaimed as soon as he stepped in. He looked up and was surprised to see the girl that had come up to him when he had been saved from drowning by Lovino.

"Oh, good morning." He said. The girl, Bella he remembered, welcomed him with a bright smile, recognition flashing in her green eyes immediately.

"It's you!" She exclaimed, "Antonio, right? How are you?"

"I'm fine." Antonio said and looked around at all the different sorts of bread and sweets Bella offered. "You own the place?"

"Yes. Me and my brother, actually." Bella said and turned her back to him. "You seem in a serious need of a cup of coffee. It's on the house. If you are hungry, I would suggest trying the waffles. I bake everything myself!"

"Thanks." Antonio said and accepted the offered waffle with a smile. He bit into it and let out a moan of pleasure. "It's awesome!"

Bella smiled gladly at that and poured him some coffee in a paper cup.

"So what are you doing around here?" Bella asked. "Are you in search of a new ship?"

It took Antonio a while to connect the dots, as he had completely forgotten that Bella thought he had been shipwrecked just mere weeks before. He took a sip of his coffee to buy time, burned his tongue and nonchalantly said:

"I actually work on the "Merry Tuna"." Antonio said, "I have an early shift this morning."

Bella blinked at him.

"I thought you fished on your own?"

"I do." Antonio said fast, took another sip and burned his lips this time. He laughed at his own clumsiness. "I mean, I do fish sometimes alone in the night. That's why you found me on shore that morning. Yes…"

"And that's why you look like you are sleepwalking this morning." Bella added with a laugh, and Antonio smiled sheepishly at her. The bells above the bakery's door clinked alerting them of new clients, and Antonio paid his waffles, wished Bella a good day and left the shop.

Meanwhile Lovino was trying to get some sleep when he suddenly felt the presence of his father swimming nearby. He looked up at the other merman and nodded as a mean of greeting.

"Lovino." His father said, so much bigger in comparison to Lovino's figure. "We need to talk."

Lovino turned to face his father better and studied the other's chestnut-colored eyes, noticing a gravity in them that in any other conversation the two of them would have, wouldn't be there.

"What is it, father?" Lovino asked, and for a moment he feared the guards had come to ask for payment again in order to let them live, and he unconsciously reached for the pendant around his neck. His father smiled kindly at him and shook his head, reassuring Lovino of such fears.

"I noticed you are never here in the nights." His father said instead, and Lovino sighed, turned his head in the other way.

"It's none of your business." Lovino said, accidentally saying a phrase that Antonio taught him. He suddenly put a hand on his mouth and his eyes widened slightly. He didn't dare to look at his father, but he could perfectly imagine the other's expression.

"You answered my question, son." His father said swimming right next to him and forced Lovino to look at him. The latter hated to see the worry in the other's eyes. "Are you meeting with a human?"

Lovino wondered if he should lie, but in the end he opted for a half-truth.

"I am studying them." Lovino said. "I can sleep at nights, father, and I watch them without them seeing."

His father looked relieved for a moment and put a hand on Lovino's shoulder.

"There is nothing particularly interesting in a human, son." His father said and smiled, "I am actually quite surprised they haven't bored you yet."

"I wanted to see if the stories are true." Lovino said.

"That they hunt and kill without a reason?" His father asked. "They are true, and you shouldn't try to see it for yourself. It's dangerous. Or do you want to see if they can sprout wings like seagulls and fly until they reach the moon? They do actually sound like seagulls, if you ask me."

"Are there any other stories on them that I do not know of, father?" Lovino asked suddenly curious and sat next to his father. It was nice being like this when Feliciano, his brother, was away in the North. In these occasions, his father's attention was always concentrated on him only.

"They say they can talk to one another with the mere power of their mind." His father said, "But I wouldn't give these stories much attention."

"I have a question." Lovino asked then, his heart beating loudly in his chest as he considered his options. "Is there a way for a human to become a mermaid, or for a mermaid to become a human?"

His father seemed taken aback by this, and Lovino regretted asking in the first place.

"That is an answer only the Sea Witch can give and she is even more dangerous than humans." His father said, "Come on, son. Think about humans only when you are hungry and sleep at nights."

Lovino nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. His father smiled and patted his back reassuringly, and Lovino hated how his father always looked so sad when talking to him and Feliciano wasn't around to cheer him up. Lovino felt like a failure in the other's eyes and the only time he felt important was when Antonio was talking to him.


	5. There is life and there is death

"Waffles and a cup of coffee as always?" Bella asked with a big grin as she turned around to prepare Antonio's silent order. Antonio grinned back, waved at Ned putting the different kind of just baked breads on the shelves and thanked Bella when she served him his coffee.

"How's business so far?" Bella asked then, leaning on her hands and looking up at Antonio with cheerful, green eyes. Antonio bit on his waffle, amazed by the sweetness every time, and after gulping down a good portion of it, said:

"Winter is just around the corner. There's not much swimming around."

"Winter is pretty bad here." Bella agreed, "It will get colder and colder. I heard on the radio that it's going to be the worst winter of the century."

"That's bullshit." Ned's voice reached them from the back room, where Ned and Bella had the furnaces, "It's not like the sea is going to freeze over. People need to calm down."

Bella laughed.

"I want to see the sea freeze over, though." She said louder, "It would be great for ice-skating!"

"I don't." Antonio said picking up the crumbles with his fingers and putting them in his mouth, "It's not like I don't like ice-skating… okay, I never tried, but-! It's just that fishing is my job."

Bella turned to look at him and nodded.

"Then I will pray that the sea won't freeze over." Bella said and smiled, "I can ice-skate somewhere else."

Antonio smiled back, paid his breakfast and left before the next client came in.

By then breakfast by Bella and Ned had become routine. Bella's coffee boosted his energy that he honestly needed if he kept spending most of his nights at sea talking with a merman. No matter how much his body craved sleep, Antonio couldn't even sacrifice a night without seeing Lovino. They never talked about something really important and instead concentrated more on Antonio's world, the humans' customs and traditions.

Antonio wanted to know more about Lovino's world, but he couldn't get past the fact it was a beautiful one, nice to see, rich and prosperous in nature, but dangerous and full of corruption in reality. Antonio would have liked to tell Lovino that his own world was the same, but it broke his heart to let down the merman, who had seemed to have idealized the humans through Antonio's words.

Lovino was fascinated by everything Antonio brought him, and from one day onwards rewarded Antonio with things from the mermaid's world. Most of those were things that Antonio had never imagined to exist and that were hard to describe. Some were plain things like spears for hunting, while others were complicated ornaments that mermaids used to make themselves look more beautiful. It looked like most were made with some kind of magic as they glowed in the darkness or became something else as soon as the moonlight touched them. It seemed that mermaids revered the moon in the same way some humans revered the sun.

"What about your necklace?" Antonio asked, absentmindedly reaching down to the pendant around Lovino's throat. Lovino always let him touch him, and Antonio realized that personal bubbles were not the same under the sea.

"My mother made it for me when I was born." Lovino answered his first honest and straightforward one in a month. Antonio wanted to celebrate. "The craving inside is my name in my language."

Antonio stared at the necklace in question for a while, but then his eyes traveled down the other's collarbone to his chest only to lose sign of the other's body in the dark waters of the sea.

"How did she make it?" Antonio asked, "It looks like gold, but-!" He was curious, and suddenly he realized he craved that necklace. He wanted the mermaids' jewelry for his own and imagined himself rich and finally one of the noble ones, no need to go fishing every day at all.

"I don't know." Lovino said. "Only mermaids are taught how to make them. Mermen are not."

"Can you ask her?" Antonio asked, and Lovino's face suddenly darkened.

"She passed away." Lovino said and his voice was so cold that Antonio felt shivers ran down his spine. "A human killed her in a hunting mission."

"I- I am sorry." Antonio faltered, hoping against all hopes that he didn't make Lovino mad, but Lovino just looked up at him, amused and just a little bit sad.

"There is life and there is death." He said simply, but it felt to Antonio like something that has been repeated over and over to him and not a conclusion Lovino have reached on his own. Nevertheless Antonio reached down for Lovino's shoulder in a comforting gesture and for the first time since Antonio had met him, Lovino's cheeks tinged red and it was the most endearing thing Antonio has ever seen in his whole life. Something that Antonio wanted to hide in a box and never let anyone see.

Lovino returned back to his room with his mind set. If he wanted to be part of Antonio's world, he had no other choice but pay a visit to the Sea Witch. He feared her and couldn't imagine what she would say, but he was sure she would find a way to help him out. He thought about his dad, the sad looks when he thought Lovino didn't see, and about his brother, who was living his life fully in the North, in a much more prosperous country and with much more possibilities that Lovino would ever dream of having.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that it took him a while to realize that he wasn't alone in his room. He almost screamed when a pair of arms engulfed him in a hug and he pushed the other merman away to see the other's face better.

"Brother!" Feliciano exclaimed, his voice full of joy. They looked almost the same, but Lovino's hair and skin was slightly darker than his brother's. "I came to visit you. Where have you been so early in the morning?"

"Does father know you are here?" Lovino asked, still recovering from the shock of seeing his brother there. Feliciano shook his head and took Lovino's hand in his own.

"I wanted to make a surprise to both of you." He said with a smile, "Why? Aren't you glad to see me?"

Lovino stared at his brother's face and then bit his lips, and, as if on cue, Feliciano's smile slowly faltered.

"What is wrong, brother?" Feliciano asked then, and Lovino pulled his hand away and turned his back to Feliciano.

"I need your help." Lovino said, the plotting inside his mind growing more complicated and dangerous as time passed. He hadn't predicted Feliciano's arrival –how could he?- but he thought he could use it to his own advantage. Feliciano swam by his side and tried to hold Lovino's gaze on his own.

"What happened?"

"I need to see the Sea Witch." Lovino cut short, "Father is not okay, I can see it in his eyes, Feliciano, and the Sea Witch is the only one who can help him, even if father would never admit it."

It was a lie, but it seemed to do the trick, as Feliciano stared openly at him. Lovino knew that Feliciano would have never helped him if he knew that the real reason to see the Sea Witch was Lovino's dream of becoming a human.

"What is wrong?" Feliciano asked, "What is going on with father that you would seek the Sea Witch on your own? Don't you know it's dangerous? Oh, Lovino! What is going on?"

"I wouldn't have told you anything." Lovino said, "But here you are and now you need to help me. Help us both." He added after a moment of pause.

"The Sea Witch is just a poor soul that hates the rest of the world because she can't have what she wants the most. She is dangerous, Lovino my brother. Is there not any other way?"

"No, there is not." Lovino said categorically. "Pretend you are me and sleep in my bed for a while. Father must not recognize you." Lovino ordered, "I will go to the Sea Witch and come back with a cure. Then we can confront father together."

Feliciano didn't look convinced and pondered what Lovino said for a long while before he nodded his agreement.

"But do you remember what father always says?" Feliciano asked, "The Sea Witch's help comes always with a price."

"That's why I got this." Lovino retorted and touched his necklace. Feliciano's eyes grew wide.

"But it's all you have left of mother!" Feliciano exclaimed, "Surely, there is-!"

"It's what I value the most, and I am sure those are the things the Sea Witch wants." Lovino cut short. He put his hands on both of Feliciano's shoulders and squeezed them tight. "Don't betray me."

"At least tell me what father is suffering from!" Feliciano's exclaim, but Lovino was out and away before he could come up with a good answer.

The Sea Witch had been a mermaid like them, but became a damned soul when her love was found out to be an unrequired one. Lovino knew all the stories about her as adults always threatened them to call her when their kids weren't behaving properly. She was an ancient, dangerous creature, and in any other circumstance Lovino would never seek her help.

Everybody knew she lived alone in a cave, cut out from the rest of the world, and no one dared to come closer to that side of the Ocean. It was no wonder, then, that everything turned dark and silent when Lovino crossed the borders between his world and the part of the world the Sea Witch lived.

Lovino's heart was beating frantically in his chest as he swam closer and closer to the Witch's cave. The waters slowly turned colder, there were no fishes around, and by the time Lovino reached the entrance the feeling of desperation and hopelessness had craved a spot in his own heart too.

"I can feel you standing there." A cold, dangerous voice came from inside the cave, "Come in and don't be afraid."

Lovino didn't like the cold way the Witch sounded, but he had come too far to back down now. Moreover, he couldn't return back home and admit that he had lied in order to abandon them all. It was a matter of time before his father and his brother ended up discovering the truth, so Lovino swam inside the cave, unsure whether he was making the biggest mistake of his life or chancing his life for the better once and for all.

The Sea Witch was sitting in the middle of the cave, combing her long blond, almost white hair. She watched him swam near her with ice cold eyes and an imperturbable face that showed no emotion. She had a ribbon in her hair that she managed to avoid with her comb made of bone.

"You are here to ask for a favor." She said, her voice unexpressive. Lovino gulped and nodded in agreement, afraid that his words would betray his fears. Nevertheless the Sea Witch seemed to look right into his soul for she said:

"If you can pay for it, you must not be afraid. Now tell me, what is it that you seek?"

"I want to live among the humans." Lovino decided to finally tell her and ignored the way his voice shook a little, "I want legs like them, and not live under the sea anymore."

She hummed and put the comb down on a little table nearby. There was a long, terrifying moment of silence, then she looked straight into his eyes, and even if she wasn't smiling, Lovino could swear she was laughing inside.

"I can see why you would want such an awful thing." She said and swam next to him, her face just inches from his own. "Such simple desires, to be near the one you love."

"I never said I love anyone." Lovino spat at that, his face turning red at the mere implication.

"Indeed you didn't, but I recognize love when I see it." The Witch said and she didn't leave any room for doubt. "You made the right choice coming to me. I can grant your wish, albeit not permanently." She added and swam around the cave, which, now Lovino noticed, full of bottles of potions.

"Not permanently?" Lovino repeated. She hummed once more and the sound made Lovino cringe.

"You could live with the humans forever if you manage to make him declare his love to you." The Sea Witch said taking a phial and studying it under the light of an anglerfish. Lovino stared at her, but couldn't find anything to retort and kept watching her instead as she put the phial down and took another one in its place.

"If he does so in three months, then you will have your legs forever." She continued, nodding to herself and swimming back to where Lovino was.

"What if he doesn't?" Lovino softly asked, his chest galloping in his chest. The mermaid looked at him and tilted her head to the side, her long hair moving sinuously in accordance with the motion.

"Poor unfortunate soul." She said and there was mocking, "Are you already doubting him?" She asked, but before Lovino could say anything, she whispered in his ear: "You will die."

Lovino's eyes widened at the Witch's statement, but she caressed his face in a loving gesture while putting the phial full of potion in his hands.

"You shouldn't worry. I have been generous and given you three months' time. I could have given you much less."

Lovino studied the small bottle in his hands, weighting the pros and cons but nothing came to mind against this decision.

"I accept." Lovino declared then, looking up at the Witch's cold eyes. She smiled then, a small quiver of the lips upwards.

"Then drink." She ordered, and Lovino put the bottle near his lips and swallowed the potion in one gulp. It tasted awful, like a bad combination of rotten meat and sand, but Lovino drank it all without a complaint.

"You will transform the moment you breathe in air." The Witch said, "So I suggest you go out in the surface only when you are close to the shore."

Lovino nodded and made to go, but the Witch stopped him with a raise of her pale hand.

"One moment. You haven't paid me still." She said. Lovino raised his arms and reached for the pendant around his neck, but the Witch chuckled.

"Oh, what is an old necklace worth to me?" She said and made a gesture around the place. Anglerfishes suddenly lighted up, revealing tons of old treasures scattered around the cave. "I want what you value the most." She explained and caressed his face one more time.

"But that's it." He said, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. "This belonged to my mother and-!"

The mermaid halted him with a rough gesture of her hand.

"It is not." She cut him, her voice regal, cold and dangerous. "It used to be, but it's not now."

"Then what?" Lovino asked.

"I want your beloved human's memories of you." She stated. "As soon as you breathe air, he will forget about you."

Lovino felt like she had stabbed him straight in the heart, but the Sea Witch wasn't over yet.

"He will not remember your little encounters at night, or that you saved him from drowning, and you must not tell him what you really are or else the deal is off and your death will be mine." She said. "You are on your own, but if he loves you within three months, then all memories of you will come back to him."

Lovino stared at her for a long moment, but he had already drunk the potion and he had no choice than to nod. She smiled at him and bowed in a mocking gesture of greeting. Lovino swam away from the cave then and up to the surface.

Antonio laid to bed at night, waiting for the moment he would sneak out and meet Lovino. He listened to the soft snoring from the other rooms, and wondered if Lovino would like the little radio that he wanted to show him. He stared at it for a while and made himself comfortable in his bed. The moon was already up in the sky, and Antonio stretched.

Oh, the radio. Don't forget the radio.

He had to give it to someone.

Oh, he will think about it in the morning.

Antonio yawned and fell asleep.


	6. Human

Lovino could sense he was near the shore, but he miscalculated how he would reach it once he would transform into a human. As soon as he came up into the surface and breathed in air, a scorching pain shook his whole body and tore it in half. He could feel all his tissues stretch and break in a gruesome way, and he bit his lip hard from the agony of the whole ordeal. He tasted blood and felt it trickling down his chin, but then, as sudden as the transformation had started, it all abruptly ended as if nothing had happened.

A moment Lovino was swimming just as he had been used to all his life, the next he realized he didn't know how to move his legs to remain floating on the surface. He started kicking and moving his arms frantically around, but no matter what he did he couldn't remain on the surface. He screamed then when he realized he was still too far away from the shore and he couldn't feel the sand under his feet.

He was wondering about the irony of being a merman and drown when suddenly someone grabbed him by the arm and dragged him away to safety. Lovino coughed and spat out water, letting himself being pulled up and out of the sea's cold waters. For the first time in his life he felt happy to feel the sand under his fingers, and remained on his hand and knees for a long while, coughing and wondering what he was supposed to do now.

"Are you okay, kid?" A deep voice asked, and Lovino took a glimpse of his savior as he grabbed a coat that was lying on the sand, probably thrown there in the other's haste to save him, and carefully put it on his shoulders. Lovino tried to turn around and look up at him, but ended up falling on his butt instead, still a long way to go before he could understand how humans walked.

"Can you walk?" The man asked kneeling down, his dirty blond hair dripping with salty water. Lovino stared at the other's serious, kind of frightening face, and nodded. He grabbed the man's hand that was offered to him and tried to pull himself up. His new feet felt weird and his new knees buckled under him when he tried to balance himself. He felt on his butt again and Lovino's eyes suddenly wetted up from the disappointment. The man helped him to his feet again and put one of Lovino's arms around his shoulders in a way that helped Lovino manage to firmly set his feet on the ground.

The ex-merman looked down at them then, marveling at his toes, his knees, that thing he had between his legs… it was all too new, and when he managed to make a step forwards he let out a yelp of joy.

"Are you hurt? Why are you naked?" The man asked as they slowly made their way to the harbor. Lovino didn't answer, too concentrated on the task as hand, but he did mumble a retort when the man's next question was: "What's your name?"

"Lovino, huh?" The man repeated his name with what should have been a kind smile but that looked so strange on the other's serious face, "You are not from here, are you? I never saw you before."

Lovino looked up at him and stumbled a little in the process, still in need to see his legs moving in order to make them work. The man's strong arms steadied him, and Lovino blushed at the way he helped Lovino pull his long coat around him better, so that no one could see him naked.

"I am Ned." The man finally presented himself. "I own the bakery right there. Of course it's closed because it's past half midnight, but you were lucky I had just finished preparing tomorrow's batch or else no one would have seen you drowning back there."

It was strange how Lovino realized it was night only when Ned mentioned it. He stopped walking and looked up at the moon and the stars, realizing they kind of looked different on land than at sea. Ned didn't push him to continue walking, but waited patiently for Lovino and looked up at the stars as well.

"You were lucky it's a full moon." Ned said, "That's probably why you decided to do a midnight swim in your birthday suit, huh?"

"I didn't." Lovino said, finally looking down and moving his legs again. He now and then checked how Ned did it, but couldn't quite pinpoint the mechanism behind it. With the passing of time Lovino just became a natural at it, as if his whole body had known all along how to walk and just needed some practice to do it finally right. Lovino's knees felt still weak and he still stumbled once or twice, but when they finally reached what Lovino supposed was a "bakery", Lovino could stand on his own for a couple of minutes without Ned's help. He did wonder if that was all part of the potion the Sea Witch had given him.

"So were you pushed into the water or what?" Ned asked. "Were you bullied into it? Did they pull a joke on you?"

"Something like that." Lovino stated because he couldn't come up with a better explanation and Ned's continuous questions were annoying him. He didn't know the human world so well as to understand what made sense and what not, and Antonio's stories didn't cover him up for such an occasion.

"I didn't saw any boat." Ned said, and Lovino hated how logical the other was being. "How long have you been struggling back there?"

"Long enough." Lovino lied and his knees buckled under his body's weight again. Ned grabbed him once more and dropped the matter, realizing that the boy's wellbeing was at the moment more important than how he got in that mess in the first place.

"I was bullied at school a lot too." Ned softly said, and Lovino refrained from asking what a "school" was and stared as the other reached into his coat's pocket and took a key out. Lovino narrowed his eyes at the thing and his mouth formed a small 'o' as Ned pushed the key into the door's lock and turned it open.

"You know, you should learn how to throw a punch. That usually helps." Ned said with a smile and pushed the door wide enough to help them both inside. Lovino marveled at the strange but nice odor emanating from the place, and studied all the shelves and the tables with a curious look. When Ned switched the lights on, Lovino hissed at the sudden light blinding him.

"Sit down, I'll go grab some clothes for you and then you will tell me where you live, so I can accompany you back home." Ned told him perfectly unaware of the information overload that was going in Lovino's mind.

"I don't have a home." Lovino said out of the blue making Ned stop in mid-track to his way to the back room and making him turn to look at the ex-merman again.

"You don't have a home?"

Lovino wondered if humans were stupid and needed to be repeated everything twice (Antonio for example did), so Lovino said once more, a little slower:

"I don't have a home."

Ned blinked at him, and Lovino waited for the other's next question, but Ned just sighed loudly and finally disappeared into the back room. He came out a moment later carrying some clothes that Lovino found ridiculous and unneeded. Nevertheless he did drop Ned's coat on the floor and accepted the t-shirt and pants Ned was offering him. He stared at them for a long while, not sure of what to do, and then checked Ned out, studying the mechanism of how to wear them and confronting it with the way the human was dressed. Fortunately enough, he didn't take long to figure it out and Lovino managed to put the t-shirt and pants on just fine, even if he had some difficulties balancing on his feet.

"Okay." Ned said, left Lovino wresting with his new clothes with a moment and grabbed some bread that they hadn't managed to sell that day from one of the shelves. "Why don't you tell me the truth, now?" Ned asked handing the small, round bread to Lovino, who eyed at it curiously and took it in his hands. "Where are you from really?"

Lovino's hold on the bread tightened and some crumples fell on the floor at that. He stared at them falling down and raised the bread to his eye level wondering how such a thing that looked so solid was in the end fragile. Ned sighed loudly once more, and Lovino turned his attention to him again.

"If they find out I helped an illegal immigrant in, they are going to shut my bakery down and I really need this to live." Ned said and his phrase gave birth to a lot of questions in Lovino's mind, like who "they" were? What's an illegal immigrant, and do people need bakeries to live? Lovino didn't ask any of these, though, and put the soft bread in his mouth. He let out a cry of wonder and ate the whole thing in a few bites.

Lovino didn't notice Ned staring at him, neither did he regard the soft smile growing on his face as important, but he did raise an eyebrow when Ned sighed loudly and said:

"What the hell, I will just tell them you are my little cousin."

Lovino was fascinated by human's way of speaking and repeated "what the hell" under his breath, liking the taste of swearing in his mouth. Ned didn't seem to hear him and just reached down for some more bread, which Lovino gladly accepted.

When Antonio went to the bakery that morning he felt refreshed and ready for the day. He was actually humming a song to himself as he opened the door to his now favorite shop and let himself in. Bella greeted him with a wide smile as always, but Antonio's eyes immediately were drawn to an unexpected face sitting at one of the tables munching on a sandwich. As soon as Antonio came in, the man stood abruptly up, almost dropping what he was eating on the floor.

"Hey, Antonio!" Bella exclaimed, his coffee and waffles already ready on the counter. Antonio stared at the new man for a while longer and then turned to look at her, feeling the other's eyes following his every motion.

"Good morning, Bella." Antonio greeted back with a smile, but his eyes inadvertently met the new guy's hazel ones once more. There was something extremely captivating in him that Antonio couldn't quite put his finger on and it was making his heart beat faster than normal.

"Oh, he is my little cousin." Bella said, noticing Antonio's curious looks. "Lovino."

Lovino's eyes were continuously jumping from Antonio's face to Bella's and then back to Antonio again, as if he wanted to say something but really didn't know how.

"He came to stay with us for a while." Bella continued, walked around the counter and hugged Lovino by the shoulders in a comforting manner. Antonio felt as if Bella was acting some part in some kind of act, almost looking as if she had repeated her lines over and over in a course of a couple of hours, but her fondness for the boy seemed sincere. Even they didn't look like each other a lot, Antonio could see Bella liked her cousin a lot.

"Yes." Lovino said and his eyes found Antonio's ones again. Antonio gazed right back and there he felt that familiarity again that made him feel weird in the stomach just like when one searched for a word and has it at the tips of the tongue, ready to be said but not quite.

"Are you working here too?" Antonio asked deciding to talk directly to him. Lovino's breath caught in his throat, his cheeks tinged red and suddenly avoided his gaze.

"No." Lovino answered, quick and quite a bit bitter. Antonio hummed and drank a bit of his coffee, while Bella threw them both a worried look and returned to her usual place beside the counter. Just in that moment Ned appeared from the back room with a basket full with freshly baked bread, and Lovino seemed utterly relieved by his presence.

"Hi, Antonio." Ned greeted, "I see you met our cousin."

Antonio smiled, grabbed his waffles and made a bee line to where Lovino was still standing. He sat down on the table, watching as Lovino shuffled with his hands, not really knowing what to do, before he decided to sit down as well. Behind them Bella and Ned shared a look but neither of them commented on Antonio's sudden interest.

"I'm Antonio." Antonio presented himself and stretched his hand. Lovino eyed the hand for a long while, still like a statue, until Antonio felt awkward for it and pulled it back. "Bella and Ned's friend." He added then with a smile. Ned made a strange sound behind them but Antonio purposely ignored.

Lovino's eyes were back on his face in an instant and didn't avoid his looks anymore.

"I have been working as a fisherman for a while now!" Antonio continued and then looked down at his breakfast. "Do you want some waffles, by the way? Oh, well, I guess you eat them every day but-!" Antonio blurted out and when Lovino tentatively reached for a piece and put it in his mouth Antonio beamed. "Anyway, do you know the "Merry Tuna"?" Antonio asked and then grinned widely, turning abruptly around in his chair to look at Bella and Ned. "Do you think he could work with me? He said he is not working with you, right?"

Bella and Ned shared another look that Antonio would have found suspicious, if he wasn't so wrapped up in his own ideas of Lovino and him working together. It didn't make sense at all, because Lovino hadn't even presented himself properly, but Antonio didn't care. He just knew that he wanted to.

"I don't know…" Ned said after a long pause. He looked at Lovino and Antonio did the same, turning again in his chair to fully face the younger man. Lovino felt Antonio's eyes on him and a frown appeared on his lips.

"I mean, he's _indeed _in search of a job but he could work here with us." Ned continued, "We always need a hand, and I don't think Lovino can just hop on board without asking your captain first."

"Carlos won't mind." Antonio said. "I mean…" he trailed off and sighed, "I mean, if Lovino needs a job, that's what I can offer."

"That is what your captain can offer." Ned retorted and rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "Seriously, Antonio, you act like a child sometimes."

"I think it's fascinating." Bella piped in with a smile. "I find Antonio's naivety quite endearing."

The door to the bakery clinked open, and Ned had to swallow his sarcastic remark when two new clients made their entrance. Antonio grinned at him, and turned his attention to Lovino again, who was studying his every move.

"What do you say?" Antonio asked, and Lovino narrowed his eyes at him.

"I will think about it."

Antonio's face fell at that, while Ned let out a snort behind them and disappeared into the back room as well.

"Yeah…" Antonio said, "I probably freaked you out, didn't I?"

"Freak me out?" Lovino repeated and that was a new way of phrasing it that Lovino had never heard. Antonio scratched his head in an embarrassed manner and Lovino tilted his head and mimicked him, wondering if that was another thing he should learn to do.

"If I did I am really sorry!" Antonio exclaimed. Lovino shrugged (this he learnt from Ned) and said:

"I did say that I will think about it. If jobs, as you said, are so important, I might give it a try."

"Great! Then I will tell Carlos and suggest offering a job to you! After we lost Andrew, many men decided to abandon our ship." Antonio said standing up. Lovino watched him and shrugged again, hoping he was doing things right.

"Unless you prefer to work with your cousins." Antonio trailed off unsure after a moment. Lovino looked at Bella selling bread, waffles and croissants at the other side of the room.

"The smell of bread is nice." Was what Lovino had to say to that. Antonio was quite confused by his retort and didn't really know what to think of it, but when Lovino smiled at him, Antonio smiled back and decided that he needed to ask Carlos as soon as he could.

The day after Lovino was accepted on board, and Lovino couldn't believe his luck. In a matter of a few days he not only managed to find Antonio, but he was offered a job (even if the word had not meaning for him still) that would let him see Antonio every day.

Maybe Lovino would manage to break the spell before the three months were up.

Antonio had seemed to take a liking to him almost immediately, and even if Lovino didn't know whether it was an aftereffect of the Sea Witch's curse or not, he wasn't keen on wasting such an opportunity.


	7. A father's plea

Antonio woke up that morning with a smile on his face, ready to make his way to the bakery, have breakfast and make his way to the "Merry Tuna" with unexpected cheerfulness. He put on an extra coat under Francis' frustrated stare and ran a hand through his already messy hair to comb them out. Antonio quickly checked himself in the mirror before turning to face his blond friend, completely ignoring the disgusted sniff the other did after a thoughtful check out.

"That coat is so out of fashion."

"I am a fisherman, Francis." Antonio said, "Not a top-model."

"With that ass you would have made millions." Francis muttered and glanced at Antonio's worn out coat in distaste one last time before he sighed: "I guess that was one of the reasons why your girlfriend dumped you…?"

Antonio raised an eyebrow at Francis' comment, but his friend stared back at him just as confused as Antonio felt.

"My girlfriend?" Antonio tried.

"Well, I supposed…" Francis said waving a hand nonchalantly and clicked his tongue when he realized that Antonio wasn't going to end his sentence for him, "I mean, you haven't sneaked out of your bed for a week already. I thought you were done seeing that mysterious girl…?"

Antonio felt suddenly dizzy and tilted his head in confusion. Sneaking out of bed? Seeing a mysterious girl? Antonio couldn't remember doing any of this and he tried to think his nights over, wondering if Francis was just messing up with his head. Francis' raised eyebrows, though, were a good sign as any that Francis wasn't kidding at all.

Antonio's thoughts suddenly turned hazy and blurred memories slowly surfaced in his mind. Yes… he could see now. He did sneak out for a while, hadn't he? He tried to think, but it felt like the memories didn't want him to think reasonably, pushing image after image at him and screaming, almost begging, for Antonio to just _believe_.

Yes, he could see now.

Antonio was sure he had been meeting someone all this time. At the harbor? Where? Who…? Oh.

_Just believe. _A voice whispered in his ear, small as a mosquito bite.

"Oh." Antonio's breathe hitched, "You are talking about Bella, right?"

"That's her name?" Francis asked suddenly looking very interested. Antonio's heart skipped a beat at Francis' hopeful tone and he opened his mouth to correct him, only he couldn't. Because, yes, stupid him, it was Bella. He had been seeing Bella all this time.

"But she is not my girlfriend." Antonio said and Francis looked simply affronted.

"I didn't think you were that type of guy!" Francis exclaimed but his tone was only half-serious. "Spill it, Antonio! Or I won't let you go to work today! Who is Bella? Why aren't you sneaking out at night to see her anymore?" His eyes went wide as saucers, "I know. You dumped her because she had a sexual disease!"

"What? No!" Antonio exclaimed, "I see her every day."

"You do?" Francis asked, "Oh, God, it must be serious then! You should totally bring me to her!"

"Don't get your panties in a twist." Gilbert suddenly piped in, laughing at the shocked looks that he received from both Antonio and Francis. He was leaning against the doorframe, watching them both with an amused look on his face and added: "Your gayness is showing."

Gilbert finally stepped into the room like he owned the place (which he actually did, Antonio thought) and sat down next to Francis on the latter's bed.

"So you are dating Bella?" Gilbert asked. He and Francis shared a sly look and then turned to face Antonio perfectly synchronized. Antonio suddenly felt really hot under his two coats, and considering they were in the middle of winter, he didn't take it as a good sign.

"You know her?" Antonio asked and was taken aback when Gilbert smirked.

"_Of course_." He said matter-of-fact, "I know everybody in town. She is the cute blond girl that owns that bakery near the harbor, right? Nice choice, by the way. I would tap that as well."

"You are so vulgar." Francis admonished with a sly grin. Gilbert snorted and playfully pushed Francis away.

"But now everything makes sense." Gilbert continued and looked at Francis, "Remember when he returned home drenched in sea water and accompanied by that guy? He was Bella's brother."

"Oh!" Francis exclaimed and his head snapped to Antonio's way again. "What happened that night? I am dying to know!"

Antonio blinked at them but didn't answer. He couldn't answer actually. Did that ever happen?

(_It happened_. Something whispered at him again. _Remember when you were out fishing on your own and your boat caught fire from that unattended oil lamp? She was there. She saved you, remember? She asked her brother to take you home, remember?_)

"Well?" Gilbert asked then. Antonio looked at himself in the mirror again and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. A moment before he was so sure there was something not right with the whole picture, but now Antonio's mind was full of memories of meeting Bella in the middle of the night and of her dragging him to the shore when the accident happened…. So yes… it was definitely Bella. They met secretly at night, and now they met at day, and Bella was offering him waffles and Antonio was sure there was something she always waited from him to do… what, though?

"I didn't ask her out yet." The words were out of Antonio's mouth before he could think about them. Saying them made Antonio's hair stand on edge, as if something was playing with him like a puppet, but then he calmed down. He was just freaking out because he had been seeing Bella all this time and he hadn't asked her out yet. Bella had even saved him from drowning, and, yes, Antonio had started loving her from that very moment. Yes .That was it.

Those memories have always been there. Why Antonio had doubted them in the beginning? Wait. Had he doubted something? No, he had known all along.

"You didn't?" Francis and Gilbert exclaimed in unison, but Antonio ignored them both and smiled.

"I am late, guys." He said, "You will definitely meet her, but now I have to go to work. Carlos is going to have my head if I am not there on time."

"Yes, of course…" Francis said and shared a worried look with Gilbert, who just shrugged in response. Antonio smiled and waved at them, finally leaving for work. On his way there, he made his usual stop at Bella's bakery, his lips quirking up as soon as he saw her standing in her spot behind the counter.

"Hey, Antonio!" Bella exclaimed, and Antonio swore she had become more beautiful in the span of one night. He made his way to her, but his attention was suddenly caught by the man watching them from his spot at one of the tables. Two different feelings in Antonio's heart started to fight (_Believe, Antonio, believe_!), but in the end the one that wanted to go to Lovino won, and the fisherman made a sudden turn and faced the younger man instead.

"Lovino!" He exclaimed, "Ready for your first day of work?"

Lovino nodded and silently stood up, his eyes fixed on the ground. Antonio thought the guy was really shy but in a cute kind of way, so different from his cousins. As if on cue, he turned to Bella's way, who had put his usual breakfast on the counter and was now attending to another customer.

"Is your Captain sure he wants me on board?" Lovino asked right then making Antonio look at him again.

"Of course!" Antonio exclaimed, "He is going to like you."

"You don't even know me." Lovino said, and Antonio couldn't help but agreeing. Nevertheless he smiled widely to Lovino and reached for his cup of coffee waiting for him on the counter.

"Let's have breakfast and let's go." Antonio said, "Carlos doesn't like waiting."

Lovino nodded and watched Antonio gulp down his waffles chatting merrily with Bella, who was finally client-free again. Lovino zoned them out and started wondering what a fisherman's life was like, whether it was as fascinating as Bella had told him to be last night before they went to bed.

It wasn't.

Lovino grabbed the railings with all his might as the "Merry Tuna" shook and made his way into the open Ocean. He stared at the wake the ship was making behind them and tried to understand how it could move on his own and remain on the surface at the same time. He had always seen boats from under water, but staying on one of them was another story entirely and Lovino suddenly felt his stomach churn when the ship suddenly jolted. Now that he knew he couldn't swim, standing on such perilous thing made of wood made him regret ever accepting Antonio's offer.

"Are you okay?" Antonio asked for the thousand time that day checking Lovino from time to time. Carlos and David had come to see him once or twice as well, but Lovino was too preoccupied not to vomit than engage in friendly conversation.

"I don't think he is made for a life at sea." Lovino had heard David said to Antonio when they thought Lovino wasn't listening. "I guess he should just work with his cousins in the bakery."

Lovino couldn't agree more, and grabbed the railings tighter. At one point Antonio came to see him and remained there, putting a comforting hand on Lovino's shoulder.

"I really can't swim." Lovino confessed suddenly. "I really didn't know what I was signing for."

"I am sorry." Antonio said and he indeed looked apologetic. "I guess Ned was right and you should have stayed with them."

"It's fine." Lovino said even if it was obviously not. The ship jolted unexpectedly, and Lovino felt his stomach turning inside out. What was wrong with him? He was a merman… "Damn it!" Lovino exclaimed a human phrase that he had learnt from one of the sailors and that Lovino liked almost immediately.

"Just be patient. In a couple of hours or so we will go back on shore." Antonio said, and Lovino nodded, feeling to sick to find a good answer to that. He swore once more and noticed that he felt a whole lot better when he did so.

Swearing. A human thing he immensely enjoyed.

Antonio opened his mouth to say something when, suddenly, the ship made a sudden movement and stopped. Lovino and Antonio looked around them, suddenly away of the silence surrounding them. The sudden smell of rotten fish filled their nostrils and they both looked down at the perfectly still waters of the sea. Lovino raised his head to the sky above realizing that even the clouds seemed to have stilled in mid-air.

"Oh, no." Antonio whispered behind him and shared a worried look with David, who was suddenly making frantic signs at the rest of the crew. Lovino raised his eyebrow at him, confusion written all over his face, and turned around to face him still holding the railing even if there was no reason to anymore. The air turned slowly but firmly tense, but Lovino didn't feel afraid at all.

"What's going on?" He asked and suddenly heard something splashing in the water below him. Lovino looked down and he was shocked when he saw a face he never thought he would see ever again. He let out a gasp and that seemed to trigger something in the sailors.

"Prepare the ship!" David shouted right then, "NOW!"

"Lovino! Get down!" Antonio exclaimed, but Lovino wasn't listening to him as he stared at his father looking up at them. There were other mermaids around him, swimming dangerously close to the ship, and Lovino recognized his brother among them, a mixture of disappointment and grieve on his face.

"GET DOWN!" Antonio shouted again, but it was already too late. In a couple of seconds the mermaids started to sing their lethal song, and Lovino saw his father grab the planks and climb on them moving too fast in human's eyes. He grabbed Lovino's shirt then and dragged him down with him, disappearing into the Ocean with a loud splash. The last thing Lovino heard Antonio shout was: "He doesn't know how to swim!" and Lovino tried to look behind him only to realize that Antonio had jumped in the water after him.

"Why did you do that, Lovino?" His father was shouting, but Lovino had eyes only for Antonio. "_Why_?" His father kept shouting grabbing his arms and trying to make Lovino face him.

In the meantime Antonio was circled by three mermaids, who smiled dangerously at him, reaching out to touch him.

"DON'T HURT HIM!" Lovino shouted then while his father dragged him farther and farther away from the "Merry Tuna". His shout provoked big waves around them, but in his haste to shout Lovino gulped down a mouthful of sea water that made him cough uncontrollably. The last thing he saw were the mermaids swimming dangerously close to Antonio, but they were not trying to touch him anymore. After that his father dived underwater and Lovino didn't see anything else.

After what Lovino thought felt like ages, his father finally reemerged and Lovino started coughing out water.

"There, there." His father whispered to him in his ear. "We are almost on shore."

Lovino kept coughing and looked up at the outline of the harbor just a couple of miles farther away. His father held him close and Lovino wanted to cry at the warmth the other emanated. A minute later, his father was helping him climb on one of the decks and Lovino sat on the wooden planks trying to regain his breath.

"You lied to us." His father accused him then, and if Lovino wasn't so tired he would have stood up and ran away from the other's disappointment. He didn't dare look at his father in the eye and avoided the other's stare as much as he could. He felt another splash right then, and Lovino realized that his brother was there with them as well.

"How could you do that, Lovino?" Feliciano asked betrayed and disappointed. Lovino saw more than he felt his brother reach up and touch his numb legs that were dangling from the deck. Lovino gulped down and looked away, suddenly feeling very cold.

"Lying to your brother like that in order to escape." His father continued in Feliciano's place, "Lying about my health to make a deal with the Sea Witch. Do you know the pain you caused us?"

Lovino looked away.

"Why?" Feliciano asked again, "Why would you do something like this to me? How could you betray my trust like this?" Feliciano almost shouted and Lovino's expression on his face hardened. "Why would you abandon us like this?!" Feliciano's voice reached hysterics, and Lovino's bloodshot eyes suddenly fixed on his brother's face, silencing him.

"Abandon you?" Lovino asked, his voice cold, "You did it first! Leaving me alone! Do you know how it is to live in fear all the time? Having the guards on your fins, asking for favors and payments, making you work until the debt they impose on you is over and to know that in reality will never be? Or you prefer not to hear about the corruption elsewise it will destroy the image of your perfect flourishing land?"

Feliciano stared at him for a while, his lips a thin line, and Lovino wasn't surprised when Feliciano abruptly dived underwater and disappeared from sight. Lovino's eyes were stinging and he let out a gasp when his father reached out and touched his knee.

"We were both worried." His father said, "Your brother has all rights to be angry."

"You always took his side, father." Lovino spat but didn't add anything else.

"Was this your way to get our attention?" His father asked, his tone of voice raising a little. "You wanted to become human to get away from us? Talk to me, Lovino!" His father shouted, and Lovino turned his attention to him, beating his lips until he drew blood.

"Why should everything be around you or Feliciano? Why can't you accept my choice for what it is?" Lovino shouted back.

"Because you just made a deal with a devil for such a childish tantrum. That is why!" His father spat back.

"I did not!" Lovino exclaimed. "I wanted to a chance at happiness!"

His father stared at him for a while, his face expressionless, but then it suddenly, unexpectedly turned soft.

"With that human? The human you asked your tribe not to hurt?" His father asked, "He is the reason you decided to act so recklessly?"

"I wanted to-!" Lovino started but he could find no words to explain his actions. So he scrubbed his eyes instead and spilled the whole story to his father, starting for the very beginning to the deal with the Sea Witch. He told him about Antonio, about what the price to pay had been and how interested Antonio seemed to be in him even without the memories of him. His father listened to each word very carefully, his hand caressing Lovino's knee softly as Lovino confessed what he had done.

"You felt lonely." His father said and his voice cracked in the middle of the sentence. Lovino avoided his eyes and tried to warm himself by pulling his drenched coat tighter. "You should have talked with us first."

"You wouldn't have let me." Lovino reasoned.

"The Sea Witch is an envious soul, Lovino. She is jealous of people in love, especially if there is the slightest possibility their feeling are reciprocated. She is in love, herself, and you know as well as I do that mermaids fell in love just once in their life. Her love is a prohibited one, though, and he doesn't feel the same way. She can't stand it and wants to destroy whoever can have a chance at happiness when she cannot."

"I am _not_ in love." Lovino spat and his eyes started to sting again. "Antonio is-! I just-!"

"You made a deal with the devil, my son." His father continued, ignoring Lovino's lament. "This human's mind is corrupted now. He might seem interested in you now probably because something of what you shared had stayed in his heart, but his memories are going to be altered little by little. He doesn't remember you and I am sure the Sea Witch had managed to exchange his memories with false ones. You have a spot in his heart right now, but when the Sea Witch will manage to extirpate that last flame for you, you will be nothing but a stranger to him. One day he will realize that he had been acting too friendly with you too soon and without a reason why and he will stop-!"

"_STOP TALKING_!" Lovino shouted and his booming voice made the earth and water tremble under them. Lovino took a deep breath, regaining his composure and tightened his hands into fists.

"I will find a solution to this, Lovino." His father said. "But if you felt drawn to this man just so you could have a reason to leave us, I need to know."

"I have three months until Antonio declares himself for me." Lovino said ignoring his father's second sentence. "Maybe he will remember me, and will keep being interested in me even after the Sea Witch's curse takes over him."

"I know how that Witch's curses work." His father reasoned, "I saw it many times."

"You don't know that." Lovino spat and suddenly he broke down crying.

"I will always be here for you." His father said and Lovino suddenly pushed himself from the deck and hugged his father. "If you ever desire to return home, I will wait for you with open arms. I am sorry for making you suffer." His father added as Lovino continued crying and hid his face in the crook of his father's neck.

"Just remember I never hated you or thought you were second to Feliciano." His father continued in a whisper.

"Then why…?" Lovino muttered softly in between sobs.

"LOVINO!" Someone exclaimed right then and Lovino had to abruptly part from his father's embrace when the latter dived into the Ocean out from the human's sight. Lovino was close enough to the shore that he could touch the bottom of the sea, and he looked around at the source of the voice. He was surprised to see a drenched Antonio running towards him, dive into the water and reach where Lovino was walking as fast as he could against the water's resistance.

"Antonio?" Lovino asked the tears still running down his cheek. When Antonio was finally by his side he pulled Lovino in his arms and held him close as if he had never though he would see him ever again.


	8. Wonder

When Antonio saw Lovino being grabbed by that merman and dragged down into the depths of the Ocean, he felt as though the world had suddenly stopped turning. He couldn't hear Carlos' frantic orders anymore, and the screams of the frightened sailors became mere background noise to the beat of his galloping heart. Antonio thought about Bella and Ned, who would never see their cousin again, and he felt so immensely guilty, because the reason Lovino had been on board was Antonio's stupid, _irrational_ idea to have him there with him.

"Lovino is putting up a fight! If-!" One of the sailors told him just then, and Antonio finally snapped to attention and indeed saw Lovino courageously trying to keep the merman's hands off him. The sight sparked a light of hope in Antonio, before he suddenly realized that…

"He doesn't know how to swim!" Antonio exclaimed in panic and without thinking jumped in the Ocean as well ignoring his friends' cries. He started to swim over to where Lovino and the merman were, and when Lovino suddenly turned to look at him, Antonio felt that he could make it, he could reach him, he just needed to-!

And then he saw them: three mermaids circled him like sharks attracted to a freshly amputated arm. Antonio's heart was beating madly against his chest and the panic rose through his throat and settled in his mind making his head ache, his whole body shiver with fear and drenching him in hopelessness.

He was going to die.

Antonio looked at Lovino again, who was staring at him, his hazel eyes wide open and Antonio… Antonio… had the sudden vision of Lovino swimming towards him and smile mysteriously at him, slightly pointed fangs poking from under rosy lips.

The vision shattered into millions of little pieces when he heard the screeching shout. The small tsunami that followed made both mermaids and sailors freeze on the spot, but the mermaids dived into the Ocean a moment after disappearing from sight as abruptly as they had first appeared. Antonio looked around him in search of Lovino, but saw nothing of him and when his companions threw him a rope to pull him on board again, Antonio were too much in a state of shock to immediately accept it.

When his friends finally managed to help him up, Antonio's eyes were void of any emotion. Carlos tried to talk to him but Antonio could hear no word of what the other was saying. He just knew he should say something in return, let the other know he was okay, but he couldn't find the strength to. He mechanically accepted the blanket David or another sailor, maybe Pete, offered him and put it around himself. While the "Merry Tuna" turned around and was led back to shore again, Antonio wondered about her name once more. There was nothing "merry" about her after all.

When they finally docked, Antonio had thought over his speech to Bella and Ned at least a hundred times but every time something was missing or didn't feel good enough. Bella was never going to speak to him again, something inside him told him, and what's more, if they had a chance to be a couple, Lovino's death had ruined it once and for all.

"But that's not important, is it?" Antonio thought out loud, his hands tightening into fists in anger. You practically killed Lovino, a young boy that had his whole life before him, another voice inside him screamed. Who cares if Bella is not going to speak to you ever again?

You killed _Lovino_.

Antonio walked through the harbor headed for Bella and Ned's bakery feeling heavier each step he took when he suddenly heard a splash at decks, one of the most hidden from view. He raised his head, curious, and his eyes widened when he noticed Lovino standing half-waist into the water.

"LOVINO!" Antonio shouted at the top of his lungs, wondering if he was mistaken, hoping against all hope that Lovino was indeed there, alive and out of harm, and not just his imagination. He started running when Lovino fixed his eyes on him, and Antonio fought against the water's resistance to get to him as soon as he could. It took him a while but when he reached Lovino, he immediately pulled him into his arms. Antonio thanked God under his breath and closed his eyes, feeling Lovino's drenched figure pressed against his chest.

"You are alive." Antonio whispered and he was surprised when his voice cracked in the middle of the sentence. Lovino remained still in his embrace, and finally, even if he didn't want to, Antonio pulled softly away to look at Lovino straight in the eyes. "Are you okay?"

Lovino's eyes were wide with surprise and he nodded, little drops of water falling on them at the motion. Antonio furrowed his eyebrows and checked Lovino for wounds, but the man seemed as healthy as ever.

"How-?"

"He brought me here. I don't know why." Lovino said kind of abruptly, and Antonio noticed a tinge of annoyance in his voice. "I want to go home." He added then and pushed Antonio kindly away.

The sailorman nodded at that and grabbed Lovino's hand, slowly leading him to the seashore. Lovino let himself be dragged away and shot a glance at the open Ocean behind them for one last time before he turned his attention to Antonio again. When they arrived at the bakery, drenched and looking as if they had been gone through hell and back (and Antonio felt as if he had), Bella let out a scream and dropped the loaf of bread she had been holding to run to their assistance instead. She checked Lovino first, then Antonio, while Ned, alerted by the scream, ran into the picture and made a bee line to Lovino.

"What happened?" Ned asked fixing Antonio with a glare.

"Mermaids." Antonio answered as Bella's hands roamed over his wet face, "We were attacked and-!"

"I told you it wasn't a job for him!" Ned exclaimed and pulled an awfully silent Lovino away from Antonio, who was still holding Lovino's hand. Antonio dejectedly let him go and watched the two of them disappear into the back room and probably up the stairs to Bella and Ned's apartment.

"Don't mind him." Bella softly said breaking the awkward silence that had formed after Ned and Lovino's withdrawal, "He was just scared. You look like shit."

"I am so sorry." Antonio said tilting his head to Bella's direction, "If I didn't-!"

Bella smiled softly at him and cut his rambling with a caress on his cheek. Antonio stared at her and he suddenly remembered all the nights they had spent together, talking about everything and nothing, and he finally calmed down.

Seeing this Bella let out a sigh and motioned him to sit down while she helped him out of his wet coat and went to grab one of Ned's dry ones.

"I am so happy you are both okay!" Bella exclaimed leaving Antonio alone for a moment to make him a cup of hot coffee. Antonio tried to dry his hair with his hands but it was a futile thing to do, so he just stared right ahead of him instead.

"Lovino must be in a state of shock." Antonio said, "I didn't want to harm your cousin in any way! I swear, if there is anything I can do to make it up to you-!"

Bella returned back with the coffee and sat down across him, pushing the cup towards Antonio.

"You are fine, that's all that matters."

"But what are you going to tell his family if-!" Antonio started again, but Bella sadly shook her head at him.

"I have a confession to make." Bella cut him. She looked nervous, and she glanced at the back door before she finally turned to look at Antonio again.

"What is it?" Antonio asked holding the cup to warm his hands but not raising it to his lips just yet. Bella sighed again as her eyes first lingered at Antonio's cup then at her fingernails and back to the cup again.

"Lovino is not really our cousin." Bella whispered, still avoiding Antonio's curious stare. "Ned found him two days ago walking around in the harbor completely naked and we just…" She made a vague gesture, "… took him in."

"An immigrant?" Antonio asked not believing his ears. Bella nodded and finally looked at Antonio in the eyes.

"And an illegal one at that." Bella confessed, "But Ned took a liking to him, and when I met him and talked to him a little bit, I liked him too. I mean…" She smiled, "…he looks so innocent and- and utterly _lost_. I feel like I need to protect him."

"I don't understand…" Antonio said, and Bella's smile turned sad.

"I don't know where he is from, but it looks like he hasn't got a clue of how the world works." Bella continued, "He had never seen a television set, he didn't know what bread –_bread! _-tasted like and a million of other little things that everyone does but he makes a huge effort to mimic!" Bella exclaimed, putting a hand on her mouth when she realized she had raised her voice. She looked at the back door again, but when neither Ned nor Lovino showed up, she continued: "I don't know what happened to him in the past but it must have not been nice. If the police catch him, it will be the end of him. I am so sure of that! What if he had escaped from a- a- _lager_ or something just as awful? I don't-!"

"Have you asked him?" Antonio asked, and Bella shook her head.

"He doesn't want to talk about it." She retorted. A few minutes of silence followed her statement before she started again: "He cannot even write and read. The only thing he had in his possession was this necklace with something strange engraved on it. It was written in a language I never seen before, and when asked, he said it was his name."

Bella looked at her fingernails again and added in a whisper:

"For all these reasons and more, I want to keep him by our side. Ned is strong and we will both protect him as much as we could. That's why Ned didn't want him to join your crew, because it would mean he would be too far away if anything happened."

"He was right." Antonio said suddenly feeling guilty once more, "I should have thought about it better."

"Just take care of him next time." Bella said, but Antonio smiled reassuringly at her.

"He is not going to come with me anymore." He said, "It looks like Lovino suffers from seasickness, and I guess after the mermaid accident, he wouldn't want to be a sailorman for the rest of his life."

"Was it that bad?" Bella asked, "The attack I mean…" She snorted and shook her head, "Of course it was."

Antonio considered telling her Lovino had been almost eaten by a merman, but then refrained from it. Judging by Bella and Ned's reactions to seeing Lovino soaked and pale like a sheet, Antonio knew that the knowledge would just kill her, even if they weren't blood related. So Antonio didn't say anything and a long moment of silence followed in which neither Bella nor Antonio didn't know how to break it and were too occupied thinking about Lovino to come up with something.

"So you think Lovino has never visited the city? Or the whole land for that matter?" Antonio suddenly asked.

"I- I don't think so." Bella answered, furrowing her eyebrows at the sudden change of topic. Antonio smiled widely at her and reached for her hand intertwining their fingers together.

"Then I want to make up for everything and take him around! I am sure he will love it!"

"Are you serious?" Bella asked shocked.

"Of course! I will take a week free, and maybe we can organize some excursions around! You should come too, by the way. And Ned, if he likes." Antonio continued feeling as if his idea would redeem him from almost losing Lovino in such an awful way. Bella blushed at his proposal, blinking at him with wide, green eyes, but a moment later she was nodding and smiling back at him.

"I guess…" She agreed. "Lovino will love it."

And she suddenly felt good again.

One of the very first things Lovino realized that he didn't like about the human world were jobs. His first experience of one on the "Merry Tuna" hadn't help change his first impression, but he was really glad when Bella and Ned announced him that he could earn a living by staying with them in the bakery. His happiness turned soon enough in disappointment when he realized that "earn a living" meant standing all day long sweating like a pig (which was a new phrase for him, as he had never sweat before and he had never saw a pig either) trying to make human after human happy by selling them bread, waffles, coffee, whatever they had on the menu. Unnecessary waste of time and effort, all of it, and for such little money at that.

Now money was something that had left Lovino flabbergasted. Antonio had never shown him before, so he was really amazed at how such a small round thing, or such a fragile piece of paper (paper was cool, by the way) could help someone get whatever he wanted any time they wanted. Two of those small round things and one could buy three loafs of bread that, in Lovino's opinion, could feed a whole family!

"You are exaggerating." Bella told him, "A whole family? Did you eat so few before you came here?"

Lovino couldn't tell her that it would have been nice, back in his world, to bribe sharks with tiny round things in return to _not_ get eaten, or ask her if she would have been happy if mermaids needed nourishment thrice a day as most humans seemed to do and had to hunt all day long. It was out of the question, so he let her believe what she pleased.

Food as well was such a nice thing. Humans had a lot of different sources of nourishment, and even if Lovino already knew how much he particularly liked those round juicy ones called tomatoes, he fell in love with their use when Ned and Bella took him to some house called a "restaurant" and realized that one could eat them in a million of different ways. Pizzas, for instance, were absolutely tasty, pasta as well, and meat of all sorts and kinds… human really did have too much to eat sometimes, he reasoned.

But to get food, one had to work. It was a little bit like hunting in order to survive, minus the blood (unless one counted their own).

Nevertheless, it looked like Bella and Ned were completely aware of Lovino's difficulties of catching up with them in the bakery, and one day, just out of the blue, Bella told him that Antonio would take him around the city or in the countryside for a change of scenery.

Lovino had to see Antonio for almost a week after the mermaid-attack, and he supposed that the human didn't care about him anymore and had decided to continue on with his life on sea. He didn't even come to have his breakfast at the bakery anymore, and Lovino was really shocked when he realized Antonio had been organizing a week of excursions just for him.

Honestly, he didn't know how to feel about that.

Giddy would be one way to put it, but he pretended not to care because he couldn't stand it if Bella realized that he couldn't wait to explore the outside world with Antonio, who should declare his love to him in a matter of three months, a problem Lovino was sure he wasn't going to solve in a day.

So when Antonio came that day to pick him up Lovino tried with all his might to have the most neutral expression on his face. It helped that Bella was coming with them leaving Ned deal with everything on his own, and Lovino could pretend to be happy that Bella was coming with them rather than showing Antonio how much he couldn't wait to explore the world with _him_.

Either way Ned didn't seem happy about it, and Lovino blamed the fact Ned needed to carry on business on his own.

"At least for today." Bella reassured him, "Then you can go with them."

"It's fine." Ned mumbled and continued putting the freshly baked bread on the shelves. The bell above the door clinked and Bella, Antonio and Lovino waved Ned goodbye as the latter smiled to the first customer of the day.

Lovino had no idea what there was outside this city or even how to get out of it (if it ended somewhere), but he was glad he wasn't the only one wondering as Bella turned to Antonio just in that moment and asked:

"So where do you want to go?"

Antonio smiled at them both but his eyes lingered a little more on Lovino, who looked away in embarrassment.

"Today is such a nice day." Antonio said looking at the clear sky above them. "I say we go for a picnic in the forest. Ned has already prepared our snacks!" Antonio exclaimed as they walked down the street.

Lovino and Bella raised an eyebrow at the same time, but it was Bella who exclaimed, surprised:

"Really? And where are you hiding them?" And then she added with a grin: "That cheeky, soft-hearted bastard, he was complaining all this time and yet!"

Antonio grinned just as wide and they suddenly halted before a cart pulled by two horses. Lovino stared at the animals with wonder and made a step back when one of them tried to sniff his hair. Antonio chuckled, grabbed the reins and made a vague gesture at the man driving the cart, who nodded and got off.

"Gilbert, my landlord, gave me this carriage!" Antonio exclaimed, "The snacks are inside, as well as blankets in case we need them."

Bella was caressing the horses' muzzles with an ecstatic expression on her face, and Lovino stared at her for a long, worried moment, hoping that the beasts weren't going to eat her up. What surprised him most, though, was when Antonio turned to him and stretched his hand to him in invitation.

"What?" Lovino asked unsure and not trusting the beasts and the strange wagon at all. Antonio chuckled and took his hand, helping him on the cart and then turned to do the same with Bella, who accepted the hand without complaints. Lovino sat down and looked around him in fear, and when Antonio got in as well and ordered the horses to move, he let out a yelp of surprise.

"Don't worry, Lovino!" Antonio exclaimed turning to him and making Lovino shout to look in front of him –for fuck's sake! He was already terrified as it was. "These horses are well trained!"

"What the hell." Lovino muttered under his breath, having realized that human swearing always made him feel better in situations like this. Bella chuckled as well and patted him on the head, a loving look on her face that Lovino couldn't quite understand.

"Have you never seen a horse?" Bella softly asked, but Lovino didn't answer her and instead opted to stare at the passing carts instead. In a matter of seconds Lovino had forgotten about horses, carts and chuckling bastards and was more fascinated at the change of scenery around them. The city, that agglomerate of grey streets and just as grey houses, slowly gave way to green clearing and rows upon rows of trees, which became thicker each mile they travelled. Antonio and Bella conversed amiably besides him, but Lovino was too absorbed in that new world to listen to what they said.

When they finally arrived where Antonio wanted and stopped the cart, Lovino didn't wait for Antonio help him off and just jumped on the soft grass under them instead. He felt it under his hands and looked up at the strange game of shadow and light the rays made filtering through the trees with wonder and trepidation. Lovino had never seen such a majestic thing that the other called "tree" at such proximity and when he touched the bark of the tree he was surprised at the roughness of it. Something moved above him and Lovino looked up to see the strange little animals tilting their heads right and left, letting out soft noises that Bella called "chirping". Around them a scent Lovino had never felt before, musky and refreshing at the same time that overwhelmed him in ways Lovino had never imagined it could.

"Come! There is an awesome place just at the end of that path!" Antonio exclaimed.

"Oh, I remember this place!" Bella exclaimed her lips quirking up in a big smile. "I used to come here when I was younger! Lovino, come and see this!"

Lovino followed them and the forest suddenly opened and they were welcomed to a big valley, an expanse of green grass as far as the eye could see. Lovino felt the sun on his skin and the cool wind caressing his cheek, and suddenly, abruptly turned around towards Antonio and smiled widely at him.

Antonio was taken aback by the smile and was more than just a little confused at the way his heart sped up upon seeing it. Bella was carrying the basket full of snack with her and as she was searching for the best spot for a picnic didn't mind them at all.

So she didn't notice the way Antonio's lips suddenly parted in wonder, gazing at that mysterious man that had never seen a horse. Lovino was such a puzzle and it triggered something in Antonio, a wanting to know more, see him more and understand him more that made no sense. He felt like the first man setting foot on an unknown, dangerous and yet fascinating land. He wanted to map that land out.

"Antonio?" Bella asked and Antonio snapped to attention again. Lovino was not looking at him anymore, too occupied in absorbing the new information to care about either of them. Antonio glanced at him one last time before he approached Bella, who was showing him were the blankets should be better laid down.

His heart started beating fast, and there was always that vision… of Lovino swimming towards him and beckoning closer, slightly pointed fangs under rosy lips.


	9. The party

"You're enjoying your time out, aren't ya?" Gilbert said stepping into Antonio's room and taking the latter totally by surprise. If one had to just by Gilbert's rough voice and exaggerated mannerism, it was strange how silent Gilbert's steps were, and no matter how much Antonio should be used to Gilbert creeping up on him in that way, he never could stop being annoyed by it. Nevertheless, he swallowed his irritation and smiled:

"Knock the door next time, will you?" He asked even if he knew it was no use. Indeed Gilbert waved him off and sat down on Antonio's bed instead like he owned the place –which, in fact, he did. Antonio sighed and turned to the mirror again checking his freshly shaved cheeks.

"When are you starting to work again?" Gilbert asked. Antonio smiled at himself, happy with the results, and then turned to look at Gilbert.

"In two days, on Monday." Antonio answered amiably and reached for his coat, lying next to Gilbert. "When are you?"

"Baby, I don't need to work, remember?" Gilbert said, bursting out laughing, "That's one of the perks of being one of the most successful business men in the World and, of course, of having a really laborious brother that does most of the work for you. By the way, did you know Ludwig had a new idea for a car?"

"Really?" Antonio asked, putting his coat on, and then sighed: "I wish I had been like you two… inventing cars and making such a high profit out of it."

"Well, not everybody can be a genius in Engineering like myself."

"And Ludwig, of course."

"Tsk. He definitely _mimicked_ me, so I am going to take all the glory for myself." Gilbert grinned. "But you are changing the topic, and I really needed to ask you something important. So you start on Monday?"

"I told you so, why?" Antonio asked suddenly curious.

"So you are free tomorrow?" Gilbert asked, but before Antonio could open his mouth to say something, he continued: "I know you are taking Bella out, and her cousin –seriously, why her cousin too? No, you know what? What-the-fuck-ever. I _know_ you are taking Bella out, but I guess you are going to be free this Sunday to come to the awesome party I am organizing!"

"You are throwing a party?" Antonio asked interested.

"Well, Ludwig is. In my home." Gilbert snorted annoyed, "Well. It's more a meeting kind of party to talk with different people about the idea I told you he had, and present it to them, find sponsors and such, you know? The boring joys of business." He took a pause and smiled slyly, "_But_ I am putting the magic in it in the form of gallons of alcohol, awesome hard rock music and food. Of course, all these without Ludwig knowing or else he will throw a fit, and, trust me, it's not beautiful. Anyway. You live here, so I guess you are coming, right?"

"You are inviting _me_?"

"Geez, Antonio! Of course I am! And Francis, of course." Gilbert said and grinned widely. "And here is the bonus card. Bella is invited too, if you wish."

"Really?" Antonio asked widening his eyes in surprise, "Lovino too?"

"Yeah, if _you wish_." Gilbert said and shrugged, "Is he always the third wheel? Are he and Bella joined by the hip or something, and you can't have a decent date just with her?"

"Kinda…" Antonio trailed off and then he suddenly grinned, "Thanks, Gilbert! It's going to be so-!"

"Awesome, I know." Gilbert cut him and stood up from Antonio's bed. He patted the slightly shorter man on the back and they walked together out of Antonio's room. "Have a nice day today!" Gilbert exclaimed seeing him to the front door. Antonio smiled and waved goodbye at him, practically starting to run down the street towards Bella's bakery.

Antonio thought that a party, one organized from one of the richest Lords of the North, was going to be the perfect ending to the already perfect week he had been spending with Bella and Lovino… and sometimes Ned, when he felt like it.

Ned didn't talk to him much, and Antonio had the vague impression Ned didn't like him at all, even if he really couldn't understand what he was doing wrong to deserve it. Bella, on the other, chatted with him non-stop and accompanied Lovino and Antonio in most of their excursions in the city so enthusiastically that, in the end, Antonio stopped wondering why he had kind of fell in love with her. She was an amazing woman, after all.

But who was even more amazing was Lovino.

They had had picnics in the forest, walked around in the park, went to the movies, went to the zoo, made a one-day trip to one of a little town half an hour away from their city famous for its chocolate and apple pies and even went stargazing on the mountains, and every time, no matter the situation they were in, Lovino was always flabbergasted, looking around him like a kid in a candy shop. Antonio thought it was worth the trouble just to see that face of absolute amazement and wonder on Lovino's face by the end of the day. It made his heart ache and made him wonder where Lovino had been for so long to be so surprised at everything. Indeed Lovino was tightlipped about his past, ever more so with Antonio than with Bella, and Antonio was so eager to know than he sometimes pushed Lovino to the limit. That's how he earned his nickname of…

"_Bastard_! You are late!" Lovino exclaimed as soon as Antonio opened the door to the bakery. Ned and Bella just greeted him with a nod and a smile, as usual.

"Hi, Lovino!" Antonio just exclaimed with a bright smile. Lovino muttered something under his breath and his cheek tinged red a little: a sight that Antonio found absolutely fascinating. He didn't comment on it, though, trying to avoid Lovino's head-butting him (something he started doing as of late and made him wonder if letting Lovino watch a Corrida on television had been a good idea) and turned so he could have the three of them in his view.

"I have great news!" He exclaimed. "You know who my landlord is, right?"

"Yes, that stuck up of a Beilschmitt. The older one." Ned piped in earning a disapproving look from Bella. "Everybody thinks so, Bella. You do too."

"Well, yeah… but still!" Bella exclaimed. "We are nice people and we talk nicely."

"Fuck that, what are the news?" Lovino interrupted them, making Ned burst out laughing. Bella sighed and shook her head.

"He used to be so polite in the beginning." She muttered turning her back to prepare Antonio's coffee. "He didn't even know what that meant!"

"It's not my fault." Ned retorted, to which Bella just snorted.

"Guys, focus!" Antonio exclaimed and he felt weird saying so as he usually was the one being told. "We are invited to the party Gilbert is going to throw tomorrow!" Antonio exclaimed before Bella and Ned started bickering again.

"A party?" Bella asked looking up from the coffee machine and a smile slowly formed on her lips. "Seriously? In Beilschmitt's house? And we are all invited?" She almost dropped the cup she was holding and hastily put it away. "That is so fucking great!" She exclaimed. "Think about all the rich people we are going to fucking meet!"

"And then it's my fault Lovino swears…" Ned muttered. Lovino looked at them, the picture of confusion, and suddenly exclaimed:

"What's a party?"

Antonio felt his grin become wider.

* * *

The Sea Witch stared at her magic mirror for a long time, her icy blue eyes welling up in anger and confusion. Her grip on the mirror's handle tightened and she _almost_ threw it out on one of the cave's stony walls in fury. She couldn't understand why the human hadn't asked that girl out yet, as he wasn't supposed to remember anything about Lovino! But here he did, and she could see it in the way his eyes glazed over sometimes, that spark of recognition that disappeared as soon as her magic took over him again.

"I have all his memories…" Natalia muttered out loud, her voice cold contrary to the hurricane going on inside her. "Why is he still so absorbed in him?" She wondered and carefully put her mirror down, facing away from her. She didn't want to see anything else anymore.

She swam around her cave and her eyes travelled around the potions lined around, but before she could start searching for a solution to her problem, somebody stormed in her cave and shouted:

"Natalya Alrovskaya!"

The booming voice echoing in her cave startled her less than the sound of her real name being called did. She snapped to attention and didn't wonder at all when the Old Vargas, Lovino's father, made his appearance. He was old enough to know her and her story, and the Sea Witch was clever enough to understand why he was there. Nevertheless she said:

"To what I own the pleasure?"

The merman's face was a look of pure anger and sorrow, and the Sea Witch watched him swim towards her as if ready to hit her only to stop some meters away from her.

"You know very well why I am here, Natalia." The old Vargas said, gritting his teeth. "You should stop taking advantage of mermaid's dreams for revenge."

"Revenge?" Natalia asked, her eyebrows narrowed slightly, "I gave Lovino what he sought. If he is stupid enough to fall in love that is not my problem."

"It is when you try to kill him!" The old Vargas shouted and the cave slightly trembled at his outburst. Natalia looked up at her bottles clinging a little together before narrowing her eyes at him.

"Don't use your power in this place." Natalia threatened, "Break something, and I will cut your guts out."

The Old Vargas's hands tightened but he did try to calm himself down.

"My son is going to _die_."

"Everyone dies at some point." Natalia said, "You know that better than everybody else, don't you?" She swam towards him and circled him, her eyes not leaving the older merman's ones. "Lovino was foolish enough to fall in love with a human, and human are nothing but a series of misfortunes and hardships. They make everyone suffer in their constant striving for eternal happiness, and who else by a fool would be attracted to that?"

"Undo it." The Old Vargas just whispered. "I want him back, and alive."

"What if he is the one that doesn't want to come back? Maybe Lovino is not a fool. Maybe he just wants to escape from something?" Natalia continued and her lips stretched into a grin when she saw the way the older Vargas closed his eyes and his muscles stiffened.

"I just gave him what he wanted, Julius." Natalia said.

"He is going to die!" Julius shouted and the potions rattled together once more. "You practically condemned him to death! If that human doesn't remember him, he will die!"

"Magic always comes with a price." Natalia reasoned.

"You could have taken everything." Julius said, "My own life, if you so wished. Lovino doesn't deserve this."

"Oh, what should I do with a life of a man that is already dying?" Natalia asked. "Because that is what you are, old Julius. I guess your sons don't know?"

"You know very well that they don't." Julius snapped. "But this is not about my health, it is about my son. You shouldn't have made that deal with him, and then played so unfair! You should know better than everybody else how being eternally condemned to an unrequired love feels like."

Natalia's eyes narrowed at him, and Julius almost smirked when he realized the way his words were affecting her.

"Be careful of what you are going to say next, dear Julius."

"Your brother will never love you back." Julius promptly said. "You are well aware of it, and ruining everybody else because you can't ruin him is not fair. Lovino doesn't deserve this."

Natalia decided not to push it, and just turned abruptly around swimming away from Julius as far as she could. She sat in the darkness and grabbed her mirror once more. She remained staring at her reflection for a while before putting it away again.

"You can try as much as you want, Julius." Natalia said, "But it is Lovino who made a deal with me, and this is something only he can break."

Julius looked crestfallen at Natalia's words, and she finally felt powerful again. Julius' words had made her feel suddenly sad and small. For the slightest of moments she knew how Lovino was feeling and how guilty that made her. But then again, was it fair that he could have love, with a human no less, and not her? Why not her?

"Is there no other way?" Julius asked and his voice broke in the middle of the sentence. Natalia caressed the back of her mirror, happy that the darkness was hiding the tears that had formed in the corner of her eyes.

"Either Antonio falls in love with him…" Natalia said, "… or Lovino kills him. Spells like this need either Love or Death in order to be broken."

"If Lovino is in love with him…" Julius started and gulped, "… will he really have the strength to kill this human?"

Natalia shrugged her shoulders.

"We just have to wait and see, my dear Julius." Natalia whispered, "Now go. Your time here is up."

Julius remained still for a moment more, then he nodded his head, bowed slightly to the Sea Witch and left.

* * *

When Ludwig found out about the rock music and the three-thousand bottles of different sort of alcoholic drinks lined up around the big room they used as a ballroom, he had been furious. Gilbert expected nothing less from him, but he managed to play it cool and explained that boring meetings never led to anything concrete, while alcohol did, and a drunken businessman was keener to agree to anything than a sober one. It went without saying that Ludwig didn't appreciate his brother's methods, but he finally conceded the rock music and, maybe, the three-hundred bottles of alcohol out of the three-thousand. At this point, Gilbert decided to keep his mouth shut about the other five hundred stored in the basement. Ignorance is bliss, they said.

Nevertheless, the party was going to be awesome. His hopes became certainties when he saw Elizabeta, a tomboy he had been in love with since kindergarten, talking amiably with Ludwig next to the buffet. Granted her boring ex-husband was with her, but Gilbert could turn a blind eye on it for this one night.

Everyone seemed to be having fun and he even snorted in amusement when he noticed two of Ludwig's possible clients rocking on the floor. All in all he was happy with the results and he cheered himself gulping down half a bottle of beer in two seconds.

"My, my, Gilbert." Francis' voice suddenly reached his ears. "You cannot contain yourself, can you?"

Gilbert turned around to his rentee and friend and grinned widely, his cheeks red from the alcohol. Francis was holding a glass of champagne with such a grace that Gilbert wondered (and not for the first time) if Francis had been one of the Wealthy before migrating to the North to be a simple waiter in that ugly Pub in Grey Street.

"Have you seen Antonio?" Gilbert asked, loud enough to be heard over the music. Francis shrugged and shook his head, finishing his glass with an elegant sip and taking Gilbert's arm instead.

"Let's go dancing!" Francis exclaimed, "I saw two really nice looking women standing alone near the fireplace." He explained and smiled conspiratorially at Gilbert, "I think they need some company, don't you say?"

"I have a feeling they are married." Gilbert said and put down his beer. "But why the hell not?"

On the other side of the ballroom, near the entrance, Bella had been checking her red dress once more. Antonio tried to tell her not to worry for the thousand time, but Bella seemed too excited about the party and too worried about her looks to listen to him properly.

"It's the first time they invite me to such a party organized by rich people!" Bella exclaimed as they made their entrance, "Of course I need to look good! And we are late! I am so sorry, guys!"

Antonio smiled kindly to her and told her not to worry, while Lovino ignored them entirely to study the place instead. The loud music shocked him as he was still not used to the human's taste in music, and the blinking red, green and blue lights were blinding. For a moment he wanted out of the room, but changed idea when Antonio grabbed Bella's and Lovino's arms and pulled them with him in the throng.

"Do not worry about your dress, Bella. You are stunning! Just have fun!" Antonio explained and grabbed two glass of some unidentified alcohol from a waiter walking around offering a big argent dish full of glasses and tumblers. He gave one to Bella and the other to Lovino, who smelled it and made a disgusted face.

"Yes, you are right!" Bella answered and smiled at Antonio. She sipped her drink and turned to look at Lovino, who was still sniffing his drink. "How is it?"

Lovino looked at his glass a little bit distrustful and then took a careful sip. The alcohol burned his throat and he spat it out almost immediately.

"I guess it's not for your tastes." Antonio said, looking worried, and took the glass away from Lovino. He looked around once more before grinning widely and turning to Bella. "I saw Gilbert! I will go call him. You two can start dancing without me!"

"Sure thing!" Bella said with a grin and took Lovino's hands. "Come on, Lovino! Have you ever danced before?"

Lovino shook his head and looked at the people dancing around him. He still had problems walking and dancing seemed much more complicated than putting a foot one after the other. It took much more coordination that he was willing to risk, but before he could tell Bella anything, she had him pulled close to her and started moving.

"Just dance! It doesn't need to look fancy!" Bella exclaimed. Lovino's cheeks turned ten shades of red when he found himself pressed to Bella's body, but it felt strangely nice against him and he started to move, earning a bid grin from Bella's part.

So they started dancing, and Lovino realized that parties weren't that bad, after all.

In the meantime, Francis and Gilbert were talking pleasantly with the two women by the fireplace. They giggled and made a toast one after the other, almost emptying two bottles of champagne in the span of half an hour. It was like this Antonio found them, drunk and laughing whenever they had the chance.

"Hey, Gilbert! Francis!"

"Antonio!" They exclaimed in unison, turning to look at him. Francis let go of the woman he had been flirting with and hugged Antonio close before letting him go and patting him on the back.

"You are late!" Gilbert exclaimed then, "I had been searching for you for a while, you know?"

"We had a little argument with Ned and his views on Bella's short dress." Antonio explained with a shrug of his shoulders. Gilbert looked behind Antonio's back as if to check out whether Ned was lurking somewhere in the distance, but Antonio shook his head.

"He is not here." Antonio said, "But Bella and Lovino are."

"Oh, great!" Francis exclaimed and turned to look at the neglected women. He leaned down and softly kissed their knuckles in a Prince-Charming kind of fashion, which made Gilbert snort. The two women giggled at Francis' manners and shared a knowing look.

"I am sorry, Ladies." Francis said, "We need to depart from you now, but save a last dance for us. It was a pleasure meeting you and I would love to _deepen_ our previous conversation at some point tonight."

"Yes, sure." One of the two said and took out two business cards from her purse. "Call us." She whispered then and they winked at Gilbert and Francis. The latter smiled and bowed his head before turning to follow Antonio and Gilbert through the crowd over to where Lovino and Bella were dancing.

"I see you are having fun." Antonio smirked at them. Gilbert waved him off.

"Well, if you had come right on time, maybe you would have a business card to ogle over all for yourself too!" Gilbert exclaimed, to which Francis snorted.

"Have you forgotten he already has a girlfriend?" Francis asked, and then finally spotted Bella and Lovino dancing together. "Which… by the way… I think she is dancing with another man?" He added unsure. Gilbert turned to look at where Francis was pointing, and Antonio grinned.

"Yes. That's Lovino. Isn't he cute?" He said and then they walked to them, gaining Bella and Lovino's attention as soon as they were near enough. At the sight of them Bella straightened her dress again and stretched her hand.

"Hi! You are Antonio's friends, right?"

Francis smirked, gently took her hand and pressed his lips to her fingers.

"It is always a pleasure to meet Antonio's girlfriend." He said.

Bella looked confused at that and shared a look with Antonio, who shrugged.

"I think you-!" Bella started to say, but Gilbert interrupted them, slapping Francis' hand away and patting Bella on the back like they were really old friends.

"Don't be tempted by Francis' elegant manners. He is a pervert." Gilbert said with a grin, "I am Gilbert Beilschmitt. Welcome to the party!"

"Err.. I am Bella." Bella said furrowing her eyebrows, "And I'm-!"

"Antonio's girlfriend. I know." Gilbert interrupted her and then turned to look at Lovino, who suddenly looked pale, Antonio noticed. "And you are Lovino, right?"

Lovino looked at Francis and then at Gilbert, nodded once, before fixing his eyes on Antonio's face and stayed there. Antonio gazed right back at those hazel irises and felt suddenly sure that there was something wrong with the picture, that he was missing a big, important clue, but he had no idea of what it was.

"I heard you are not from here." Gilbert continued, unaffected by Lovino's suddenly angry look, which was suddenly directed to him. "Do you like it here so far?"

"It's fine." Lovino stated. "I need some air." He added then and without looking back he made a bee line for the exit. Bella and Antonio watched him go confused, but Gilbert just shrugged and looked around him.

"It is a little bit stuffed here, right?" Gilbert asked, "I told my men to check for the air conditioner, but I guess it broke."

"I don't think that's the problem." Francis piped in talking after a long moment of silence. Gilbert raised an eyebrow at him, but he just shrugged, turning his attention back to Bella again.

"Antonio told me he is your cousin." Francis said with a smile, "I guess he looks more like Ned than with you."

"It's his first time to a party." Bella explained. "It's probably too much for him."

"A little bit of air then is what he needs." Francis said and reached for her hand, "But you seem in need of a good dance partner."

Bella laughed and followed Francis into the dancing throng. Antonio and Gilbert stayed back and watched them dancing for a while. Gilbert reached for another beer when the waiter passed by and took a long gulp.

"The bastard." He laughed. "He really is good at this stuff. Be careful that he doesn't sleep with Bella tonight."

Antonio snorted.

"She can fetch for herself." He said and threw a worried look at the exit. Gilbert patted him on the back and offered him his beer.

"He is going to come back in a moment. Let's join them, yeah?"

"Okay." Antonio said and followed Gilbert on the dancefloor.

Lovino took a big breath as soon as he was out in the fresh, night air. He looked up at the moon and leaned against one of the walls. Parties and humans were weird, and he probably had been so loaded with new information that he had missed such an important clue. He still could hear the music coming from Gilbert's house, but he was too focused on his own thoughts to care.

Bella was Antonio's girlfriend? When had he missed that clue? Was that why Antonio started the past week of excursions? Had he always planned to do this with Bella, but then Lovino just appeared on the way? If Antonio and Bella were together, there was no chance for him to confess anything remotely close to love to Lovino.

_He was going to die._

The realization hit him like a ton of bricks and he started walking away from the party, away from Antonio, as far as possible.

He was going to die, because there was no way Antonio loved him if he had Bella by his side.

His father had been right, and that hurt Lovino more than his imminent dead. Lovino missed his father, he realized, and his brother too. He had wanted away from them and now he wanted back to that World Antonio didn't belong in. The Sea Witch had tricked him. It didn't matter if Antonio remembered him or not. It didn't matter at all. Antonio would never, ever-!

"Hey, where are you going?"

Lovino raised his head and stared at the man walking slowly towards him. Lovino stared at him, his heart beating fast in his chest as soon as he saw the lecherous way he was looking at him. Lovino had no idea what the other man wanted from him, but felt as if he was staring at a shark's jaws. Whatever the man wanted, it was no good. Lovino was sure.

"I saw you at the party." The man continued, "It's a pity you had to leave so fast."

"You could have stayed, then." Lovino said, his heart galloping, but his voice remained steady. The man chuckled and made another step towards him, and Lovino suddenly realized that he had absentmindedly walked into a deserted part of the city, far away from the party and other human beings.

"Fuck." He swore and made a step back, looking around for a way out. The man grinned at his panic and laughed:

"In a moment, don't be hasty."

Lovino had no idea what the other wanted to say with that and he was shocked when the other leaped at him and grabbed him by the arm twisting it behind Lovino's back. The man started smelling his hair, and Lovino was disgusted by the stink of alcohol in the other's breath. Seriously, how could humans drink that stuff?

"You are so handsome." The man whispered to his ear making Lovino shiver in fear. He tried to push the other away, but he just managed to make his twisted arm ache even more. Then everything happened so suddenly Lovino couldn't keep track of the events.

Something suddenly flew above them, and Lovino raised his eyes to see a bottle of beer crash on the wall in front of them.

"Leave him alone!" Somebody shouted and Lovino blinked in surprise when he recognized Antonio's voice. The man didn't let go of him, though, but he did try to turn abruptly around to the source of the voice. Lovino suddenly so Antonio standing there holding a plank he had found on the street.

"Let him go." Antonio said, his voice strangely calm but dangerous. The man groaned and made a desperate attempt at Lovino's throat. The latter gasped when the man's hands found his necklace and when the other pulled Lovino started screaming.

The deserted alley started violently shacking and the windows broke one after the other filling the air with broken glass and pieces of wood, which fell down on them like rain. Antonio crouched down and covered his head while Lovino kept screaming: two syllables that seemed to continue forever. The man stared with wide eyes at the chaos going on over them and pulled himself away from Lovino, breaking the fine lace of Lovino's necklace.

As soon as that happened there was a loud crack, and Antonio abruptly looked up, his eyes wide and void of any emotion. Lovino stopped screaming then and stared down at the frightened man, looking feral.

"What are you?" The man whispered, shaking with fear, and Lovino angrily grabbed his arm and held him so tightly that his nails broke the other's skin. The man shouted and let go of the necklace.

"You don't want to know." Lovino muttered and let him go. The man made a step backwards almost falling on Antonio's crouching figure and started running away. Lovino stared at the blood on his hand and then kneeled down to take his necklace.

"Thanks, Antonio, but I really didn't need your fucking help." Lovino said and slowly walked over to where Antonio was curled up. "The bastard. He broke my necklace." Lovino said and raised the shell to his eye level, caressing the back with loving, blood-streaked fingers.

"Who are you?" Antonio asked falling down on his back. Lovino looked confused at him, stretching his hand to help him up. Nevertheless, Antonio moved farther away from him.

"I was at a party. Why am I here?" Antonio asked, looking confused around him. He blinked and then looked at Lovino again. "Who are you?"

"Are you an idiot?" Lovino asked furrowing his eyebrows and tried to help him up again. Antonio didn't accept his hand once more. "I'm Lovino." Lovino added then.

"Lovino? Who's Lovino?"

Lovino tilted his head to the side and wondered if something had fallen on the other's head when the windows broke. Lovino put the necklace around his neck again, tried to make best of the broken lace, and kneeled down at Antonio's eye level.

"Are you okay, Antonio?" Lovino asked, but Antonio's eyes had clouded over again. It lasted a moment, but Lovino didn't miss the sudden change in them when Antonio looked up at him once more.

"I'm fine, Lovino." Antonio said and stood up, taking Lovino's arm and pulling him up to his feet. "I'm glad I decided to see if you were okay!" He shouted, sounding suddenly angry, "If I hadn't, do you know what that man would have done to you?"

"As you can see, I can look after myself!" Lovino exclaimed suddenly angry as well and pushed Antonio away. "You could have stayed at the party with _your girlfriend_, and leave me the fuck alone!"

"The man was going to _rape_ you, Lovino!" Antonio shouted. "Do you even know what that means? I don't know how you managed to make the windows break, but a moment later and you- you-!"

"I don't understand why you care!" Lovino shouted instead. "I am no more than Bella's cousin to you, right? So drop it. I know you are acting all nice to me because of Bella!"

"What the hell Bella has to do with me?" Antonio exclaimed and grabbed Lovino's arm. The latter let out a groan of pain and Antonio let him go as if burned. "Oh, I am sorry." Antonio said then, his voice suddenly softening. "I didn't mean to-!"

"Fuck it." Lovino swore and held his aching arm against his chest.

"Let's go home, Lovino." Antonio said letting out a sigh, "I am sorry I yelled at you before."

"Whatever." Lovino said but his heart did beat a little bit faster when Antonio slipped his hand around his waist and helped him walk away.

"You are bleeding…" Antonio noticed suddenly and took Lovino's arm.

"It's not my blood." Lovino just said. "Let's go home."

Antonio muttered his agreement, but he couldn't stop staring at Lovino's hand.


	10. Close to the truth

Gilbert was flat on his back snoring loudly on a couch in the ballroom surrounded by empty bottles of alcohol and different party leftovers when Antonio barged into the room, already dressed up and ready to go. As he was a light sleeper, he immediately opened one red eye with an irritated groan at the sound of Antonio slipping on a half-eaten sandwich and softly swearing. Antonio heard Gilbert's moans and made a bee-line to the couch, careful of not stepping on something else again, and leaned down, hovering over Gilbert's face as if to check if the albino was still breathing.

"You awake?" Antonio asked with a bright smile, one that Gilbert found extremely annoying at that hour of the day. Gilbert checked the big clock over the mantelpiece and groaned loudly again.

"It's six o'clock in the morning for fuck's sake." Gilbert slurred, feeling as if something had died in his mouth and covered his head with an empty paper plate he found on the floor. "I went to sleep two hours ago, maybe one and a half."

"Sorry." Antonio said but he didn't look apologetic at all when he took the plate from the other's grasp and tossed it aside with a disgusted snort. "I wanted to talk to you and it's kind of important. I need to go to work in an hour. Please, Gilbert."

"I know yesterday had been a bad night for you." Gilbert muttered slapping Antonio's hand away and covering his face with his arms. "That boy had been attacked and you had to deal with his cousins freaking out for a while. _Big deal._ Ludwig wanted to kill me as well, but I enjoyed the party anyway and now I want to fucking sleep."

"I need the keys to your library." Antonio said, ignoring Gilbert's pleads, and that statement alone was enough to make Gilbert open both of his eyes and stare flabbergasted at Antonio's serious expression.

"What?" He exclaimed, "You woke me up for the fucking library?"

"I need to check something out." Antonio explained, and Gilbert rolled his eyes and finally stood in a sitting position, already regretting not punching Antonio in the face when he had the chance.

"Have you finally gone mental? Are you going to a nerd-phase or something? Was the punch spiked?" Gilbert asked and then added with a loud yawn, "No. Don't answer that. Of course it was."

"Okay, I will be frank with you." Antonio said and lowered his voice as he sat down on the couch as well. He waited for a moment as if checking Gilbert wasn't going to pass out again and continued: "I don't think Lovino is human."

As much as Gilbert's head was spinning around and his breath was still stinking of alcohol, he knew he had sobered enough to have heard Antonio correctly. He blinked at Antonio for a while before bursting out laughing.

"You are drunk. I am still drunk. Please, Antonio, go to sleep." Gilbert said when his laughter subsided. Nevertheless, Antonio remained completely calm and serious, and the expression on his rentee's face slowly started freaking Gilbert out. He mumbled something under his breath and massaged his temples in irritation, only stopping when the gesture reminded him of Ludwig.

"What the hell, Antonio!" Gilbert exclaimed. "I always had a feeling you were an idiot, but this!" He closed his eyes and slammed down on the couch again. "What is he then? _An alien_? He did look pretty green to me yesterday."

"No, listen to me, Gilbert!" Antonio spat back and looked suddenly angry. The sudden change in attitude made Gilbert blink up at him and furrow his eyebrows in confusion. "I am not joking. Lovino can't be human! What happened yesterday-!" He groaned and suddenly shot up from the couch and made a bee line to one of the big windows.

"He almost got himself killed, Gilbert." Antonio continued when he managed to calm himself down: "I blame myself for not stopping him from leaving the party yesterday."

"You couldn't possibly know what was going to happen." Gilbert interrupted him as Antonio started pacing around the room again. Antonio stopped and stared at him with green, disappointed eyes.

"He has no idea of the world, Gilbert." Antonio said, "He doesn't know _anything_, and yesterday, when that man almost strangled him, I suddenly felt really weak and incapable of saving him. And here is the deal, Gilbert." Antonio continued running a hand through his already messy hair, "He didn't need saving! Lovino started screaming, and it was something like "chigi" or- _stop laughing_, Gilbert. I am serious."

"This is my freaked out laugh, Antonio." Gilbert said, finally wide-awake, "Because that's what you are doing. You are freaking me out."

"I am sorry." Antonio said.

"You are not, but continue." Gilbert said and watched Antonio search for the right words in his head. Finally he said:

"Lovino started screaming, and it was something completely out of this world." Antonio whispered the last few words, "Everything started shacking, the windows broke one after the other and I felt like dying! It was as if I was going to be eaten alive by a _monster_, and I actually prayed to be killed, so as if not to feel that terror anymore! It was- it was-!"

"Is that why you asked me if there had been an earthquake yesterday? I did find the question rather ridiculous." Gilbert interrupted him, as soon as he noticed the panic in Antonio's eyes. Antonio seemed rather relieved at the interruption, as if Gilbert's voice helped him out from that terrifying experience.

"You have the same expression as when you were attacked by the mermaids." Gilbert continued, "Remember?"

"Lovino is no merman." Antonio said and snorted as if the mere idea was ridiculous. "But I am sure he is no human either."

"Maybe there had been an earthquake and Lovino has nothing to do with that smashing of windows and the screaming." Gilbert said with a shrug. "Seriously, Antonio. Maybe it's just _all coincidence_."

"And what if it's not?" Antonio asked walking over to Gilbert and staring at him straight in the eyes. "There are some weird things going on in my life this past month. Too many, actually."

"I don't fucking know, Antonio." Gilbert said, suddenly annoyed, "Why don't you ask him?"

"Yeah. Because that's going to go splendidly." Antonio said, "Hey, Lovino. Are you a vampire?"

"Vampires have been extinct decades now." Gilbert said with a laugh. "And don't get me started on werewolves. Since scientists found a solution to their hairy problem, they got boring."

"There was no full moon yesterday. He can't be a werewolf." Antonio said and he sounded so serious that Gilbert's amused smile slowly disappeared from his face.

"You have been thinking about it." Gilbert stated then, and finally noticed the dark circles under Antonio's eyes and the way his hands kept shaking. "Lovino did do something strange yesterday. I am not on Candid Camera and you are no joking."

"My head is a mess, Gilbert." Antonio said and Gilbert didn't find it in his heart to make a joke out of that.

* * *

Lovino didn't know who was angrier at him in that moment, whether Ned, Bella or Antonio. After the latter found him in that dark alley with that man the night before, Antonio hadn't talk to him at all and decided to just accompany Lovino back to Ned and Bella's home in silence. Lovino had never seen him look so serious and the fact drove him mad. There was no telling what the other was thinking even when Antonio was in his good moods, but in that moment, not managing to get in the other head, was something more than just frightening.

The Sea Witch had told him Antonio wasn't supposed to know what he was in reality, but Lovino had panicked the night before and he had been so afraid for his and Antonio's life that he couldn't help himself. He hoped Antonio would ignore it and blame the wind for that, but he didn't. For all his obliviousness, Antonio could be quite perceptive when he wanted to be. Lovino had realized it when he had still been a merman, but back then he had nothing to lose, while now his own life was at stake.

What scared him more, though, more than the questions Antonio was surely going to ask him, was the terrifying look in Antonio's eyes. It was like going back to square one, when Lovino's tribe had almost managed to capture him and eat him, the first day Lovino and Antonio's destinies had crossed paths. Nevertheless, Antonio hadn't had time to ask him anything, because as soon as they were home and woke Ned up and told him everything that had happened, Ned had started a fight screaming at both Antonio and Lovino's idiocy, and calling Bella, wondering aloud why she wasn't there with them. She returned back from the party alone and confused about all what had happened.

The look Bella gave him after Antonio had filled her in made Lovino's heart ache. She had looked terrified at first, then sad before looking angry, much more at herself than with either Lovino or Antonio. She started shouting as well, asking Lovino how he could leave the party without telling anyone, of how things could have gone so much worse and blaming herself for not taking good care of him.

Antonio and Ned had bickered until late in the night, until Antonio finally left, and Lovino remained behind with the furious duo, who decided not to speak to him until the morning after. At breakfast the tension in the room could be cut with a knife, as Bella seemed unsure of herself and Ned was still muttering about Antonio's stupidity.

"I am sorry for shouting at you yesterday." Bella told him when they sat down for breakfast. She made him pancakes and hot cocoa, and Lovino wondered if he deserved the extra attention. She looked guilty, though, and only smiled when Lovino dag in his food with a soft:

"Thanks."

"We were worried." Ned added when the tension slowly dissipated. "Don't do that ever again."

"I should have taken care of you." Bella said and it sounded like an apology. "I let Ned and myself down."

"You didn't." Lovino interrupted her, and Ned nodded once after a long moment of thought. "I shouldn't have wandered so far away from you."

"Things could have gone really bad." Bella pressed, but Lovino shook his head.

"Please, Bella. I hate seeing women cry." He said, "It was my fault."

Bella bit her lip at that and kept looking deep in thought even when they started talking amiably to one another again.

Later that morning Antonio dropped by unexpectedly. Ned was baking new bread and muffins in the back room and didn't see him come in. Bella looked up at Antonio from the table she was cleaning, her face turning dark when their eyes crossed.

"Good morning, Antonio." Bella muttered.

"Good morning." Antonio said and glanced at Lovino, who was standing in Bella's usual spot behind the counter and was serving their morning customers. They looked at each other for a while and Antonio shifted uncertain from one foot to the other, wondering if he should just turn around and walk away. Bella glanced at him once more, then decided to ignore him and started sweeping the floor instead.

Lovino watched their silent argument in question, and his heart skipped a beat every time either Bella or Antonio glanced his way. He gulped and kept a cheerful face while he kept taking his customer's orders, their chit-chatting the only sound in the room. When the last of them left, an awkward silence filled the place, interrupted only by Bella violently sweeping the floor.

"The chocolate muffins are ready." Ned said suddenly making his appearance and stopped awkwardly on his way to the shelves when he noticed Antonio wandering in front of the front door.

"Hi, Antonio." Ned said and slowly started putting the freshly baked muffins on the counter, slapping Lovino's hand away when the latter reached for one. Suddenly Bella let out a groan and made a bee line to Ned, shoving the broom in his chest and turning to face Antonio.

"Can we talk for a moment?" Bella asked. Antonio nodded once and waited for Bella to take her apron off and reach for him in two strides. Lovino and Ned shared a knowing look and continued their job as if nothing was the matter, watching Antonio and Bella leave the bakery with a matching worried look on their faces.

Bella remained silent for a while, purposely walking in front of Antonio and leading him far away from the bakery as possible, and Antonio was surprised to see they were headed to the harbor. Bella only stopped when they reached the seashore and she abruptly turned around, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"I am mad at you." Bella said straight to the point. Antonio nodded and noticed with the corner of his eyes some of the sailors look curiously at them. He paid them no mind, though, and took Bella's hand in his.

"We talked about this yesterday, Bella, and I am sorry." Antonio said but that seemed to make Bella even madder. She pulled her hand away and hid them in the pockets of her jacket.

"For that I am mad at myself. Do you even know why I am mad _at you_?" Bella asked, but when she saw the strange way Antonio was looking at her, she continued:. "I thought you were a good man, Antonio! But in the end you are nothing more than a chauvinistic bastard!"

"Me?" Antonio was surprised. "I am sorry about last night. I was as terrified as much as you were and if I said something to offend you-!"

"You were right." Bella interrupted him, "Lovino's safety should come first and we both enjoyed the party without caring where Lovino was going! I am glad you run after him, I really do, but something happened at the party that makes me wonder if you really wanted to help Lovino out because it was Lovino, or you had something else in mind."

"What?"

"You lied to me, Antonio" Bella said, looking suddenly in pain. "Your friend Francis told me all the stories you told them about me, about how we met in secret and how I am your girlfriend, apparently. It shocked me how much you lied to them, and then pretended to be nice to Lovino only to get closer to me!"

"I didn't lie-!"

"You did, Antonio!" Bella said, "I thought we were friends, and I had never thought you were only trying to get me to bed! I bet you had a good laugh, telling your friends about our dates and how I was your girlfriend when in reality I AM NOT!"

"And you think I ran after Lovino only to have sex with you?"

"I am not saying you ran after him with that goal in mind, but that you pretended to be friends _with all of us_ with that goal in mind! Francis' words were plainly clear! There was no misunderstanding!"

Antonio was shocked. He couldn't believe Bella's words, and for a moment he felt angry of being accused so wrongly when he remembered perfectly clearly that they had met in secret for a while, right there on the harbor or was it… at sea? How was that possible? He remembered Bella perfectly, sitting in front of him in a little boat he used to steal in the middle of the night…

"Why aren't you saying anything?" Bella asked and she seemed on the verge of laughing, no matter how much tears were running down her cheeks. "I was right, then, wasn't I?"

"Everything is so blurred." Antonio said instead, letting out his real thoughts and confusing Bella even more. "I was sure you were the one with me all those nights-!"

"What nights, Antonio?" Bella asked and violently dried her eyes with the palm of her hands, "What are you talking about?"

But Antonio wasn't listening to her anymore. He was trying so much to concentrate on a single image, but the more he thought about how he could see Bella's figure in the darkness, sitting with him on that boat, the more it looked like an image coming out from a dream and not a real memory.

"I didn't lie to you, Bella. I am so sorry." Antonio said. "I didn't mean to hurt you so much. I never told them that you were my girlfriend-!"

"But you never denied it either." Bella interrupted him. "What were you _trying_ to do?"

"Maybe I wanted to ask you out at some point." Antonio said with a smile, "But I never found the perfect opportunity to do so, while Francis and Gilbert believed that I already had and we were together."

Bella seemed shocked by Antonio's sudden confession, and she avoided his eyes, fixing her gaze on her shoes.

"So all those excursions…" Bella whispered. "…they weren't for Lovino. _At all_."

"They were." Antonio said, and then his next words shocked both of them: "He doesn't know a thing about the world and we both know it. I wanted to see him smile, and maybe I wanted to get closer to you in the beginning, but in the end Lovino suddenly became much more important."

Bella's mouth opened in a small 'o' and stared at Antonio with wide, green eyes. Antonio looked at her but his mind repeated his own words in his head and he suddenly realized it was the truth. He wasn't sure whether Bella had been on that boat with him or not, he didn't understand how some things that were so obvious to him weren't to the others, but one thing he was certain of. It didn't matter if he remembered Bella on that boat. Lovino was much more important.

"You like Lovino?"

Antonio thought the question over, but there was no denying the attraction to that mysterious boy that apparently came out of nowhere. There was a voice that was screaming at him to forget Lovino altogether, telling him it was Bella he loved, Bella and no one else and to stop being so difficult. There was another voice, much more primitive, that told him how scared he was of Lovino's true nature, and then there was another one, much more feeble in tone maybe, but much stronger than the rest that told him there was nothing to be afraid of, because this is what was supposed to happen, that no matter how much Antonio could be scared of him, Lovino had already became the center of his world.

"I have already seen that look." Bella said, suddenly kicking Antonio out of his thoughts. "You are not lying."

"Can we remain friends?" Antonio asked instead. "Can you forgive me for letting Gilbert and Francis think you were my girlfriend?"

Bella looked unsure at first, but then slowly nodded her head.

"I just need some time away from you." Bella said, "Yesterday night had been a great shock to me. I need to be alone for a while."

"Okay." Antonio said. Bella glanced at him one last time, before leaving him alone on the harbor.

From then on Antonio decided to avoid the bakery for a while. He kept going to work and joked and fished with the other sailors as if nothing was going on, but at night, when he didn't have to be on the "Merry Tuna" and Francis and Gilbert were too deeply asleep to bother him, Antonio spent his hours with a cup of coffee in one hand and an open book in the other, searching for mystical creatures or anything that could explain Lovino's scream that night after the party.

At first he did it out of fear. He couldn't understand how someone could let out a sound like that, but then, a book after the other, Antonio found himself more curious about what Lovino actually was than frightened until he started feeling a rush of affection every time he thought about Lovino and his peculiarities.

Once he thought he had found the answers to his questions when he came across a whole chapter dedicated to Banshees and their screams, which were a clear sign someone was going to die or was already dead. But no one had died that day or the day after that, and the book said that Banshees were typically women, and Lovino was male. He searched night after night but he came nowhere close to the truth, until Antonio felt Lovino was just special and he liked the idea there was no one like him in the world.

"So Gilbert was right." Francis told him one night, catching Antonio buried in books in the library. Antonio looked up at him from the page he was reading, and then started scanning the page again.

"I am not talking to you."

"Oh, come on, Antonio." Francis said and sat down next to Antonio grabbing the book from under his nose. "It wasn't my fault you didn't tell us Bella wasn't your girlfriend! I wasn't aware she didn't know about all the nights you spent together. In fact, I should be mad at you!"

Antonio grabbed the book back from Francis' grasp and sighed.

"Fine. I messed up, but she looked pretty upset, so you must have told her something worse than the truth."

Francis shrugged.

"Maybe I did try to ask her about how you were in bed once or twice." Francis said and raised his arms to the air, "Don't blame me from being curious."

"Sorry, Francis." Antonio said and opened the book again, "I know it wasn't your fault."

"Thank you." Francis said and looked at the book from behind Antonio's shoulder. "So you really are researching for mystical creatures. I thought Gilbert was joking."

Antonio didn't answer and just tossed the book aside in frustration. Francis cringed at the way it fell down and almost tore some pages away.

"You really think Lovino is not human." Francis stated as Antonio picked another book up.

"He is not."

"You haven't been sleeping properly for a while." Francis reasoned. "If this is some way to forget the fight you had with Bella, I don't think it's a good thing for your health."

"Bella ignoring me does hurt me." Antonio said, "But this is about Lovino."

Francis sighed loudly and opened a book at random.

"Banshees, Antonio? Really?" Francis asked with a raised eyebrow. Antonio shrugged.

"If you had heard what I have heard, you would have wondered as well."

"This is like that time with the mermaids!" Francis exclaimed, "You are too curious for your own good." He added and stood up. "Come back to sleep, Antonio." He said and put a hand on Antonio's shoulder. "You look like shit, and this is not good for you. Gilbert and I are worried sick."

Antonio stared at the books for a while and then sighed.

"Fine."

Antonio didn't see the relieved look in Francis' eyes.

* * *

Antonio never expected to see Lovino waiting for him at the harbors one afternoon. He had seen him from the open sea, as they were returning back to land for a small pause before leaving for night shift.

"Hey." Antonio greeted him feeling suddenly elated when Lovino tried to cover his blush, as if embarrassed to be caught waiting for Antonio there.

"I-I was out for a stroll." Lovino immediately tried to explain, and Antonio gazed at him with a soft smile on his lips.

"I am glad we had the chance to meet then. It's been a while." Antonio said and smiled so brightly that Lovino gazed at the other's face for a moment longer than strictly necessary. When he realized what he was doing, he immediately adverted the other's eyes and started playing with the buttons of his coat instead.

"Okay. Nice." Lovino mumbled, "You are fine. I am fine. I guess I need to go back to Bella and Ned and tell them how fucking fine all of us are." He added then and abruptly turned his back to Antonio as if ready to run away. Antonio's hand suddenly shot up and grabbed his arm, preventing Lovino from fleeing.

"We could go out for a coffee, what do you say?" Antonio asked, and Lovino looked at him with dark chestnut eyes.

"Coffee?" Lovino repeated stupidly.

"Yeah." Antonio said with a shrug, "And something to eat too, because I need to go back to work tonight and I am starving!"

"It's too early for dinner." Lovino said and there was something in his voice that made Antonio's heart beat faster.

"I can make do with a sandwich." Antonio laughed and still holding Lovino's arm he started walking down the harbor towards the center of the city. Lovino followed him willingly and a comfortable silence fell between them as they walked perfectly in sync.

"You like coffee, don't you?" Antonio asked suddenly when they finally found a nice looking café and sat down to an empty table. Lovino shrugged.

"I like this espresso thing." Lovino said, "I guess I will have one of those."

"Good idea." Antonio grinned, "It will keep me up tonight."

They ordered and then Antonio started talking about one thing or another, while Lovino grew more comfortable sitting alone with Antonio each moment that passed. At one point they started talking amiably, Lovino made some sarcastic remarks on Antonio's intelligence (or lack thereof) and ended up laughing together for nothing at all. The hours passed and Antonio forgot he was supposed to meet with David and they left the café to go to a restaurant instead and have pizza for dinner, something Antonio knew Lovino loved.

They had finished their last pizza slice when Antonio suddenly felt comfortable enough to let his eyes travel down Lovino's neck and fix on the necklace peeking from under Lovino's shirt. Antonio had tried with all his might to ignore that shell for the past week, but he felt suddenly drawn to it again and without thinking reached out towards it and touched it slightly with the tip of his fingers. He ignored Lovino's gasp and only looked at Lovino when the latter's hand found his and pushed him softly away.

"That man had tried to strangle you that night." Antonio said as his hand dropped back on his lap again. Lovino's eyes were amber in the restaurant's candlelight, and for a moment Antonio thought Lovino's shell too was burning just as bright.

"He didn't." Lovino just said, his eyes not leaving Antonio's ones.

"He didn't." Antonio repeated, took a deep breath and continued: "Because you stopped him."

Lovino didn't want to deny it anymore. He felt Antonio needed to know the truth, so he said:

"I stopped him."

"What are you?" Antonio asked straight to the point and Lovino finally dropped his gaze to his empty plate. Unbeknown to Antonio, Lovino was struggling with the wanting to tell Antonio everything and his fear of death. The confession was so clear in Lovino's head that if he opened his mouth he knew the words would just pour out, but when his lips parted, he suddenly felt an ache in his throat, as if the Sea Witch's hands were suddenly around his neck, tightening their grip until he couldn't breathe anymore.

Antonio saw the sadness and panic in Lovino's eyes and suddenly stood up, walked around the table and knelt in front of Lovino to be at his same eye level. The whole restaurant turned to look at them, but only Lovino seemed to be aware of the fact.

"Antonio, sit back down." He ordered, but Antonio shook his head and grabbed Lovino's hands.

"I am not afraid of you."

"You should." Lovino said, his voice barely a whisper. "Because you are so close to the truth that-!"

"You are not human, are you? But you can't tell me, can you?" Antonio asked then and squeezed Lovino's hands. "But if I find out, then it's all right, yes?"

"_If_ you find out." Lovino said and Antonio's gaze dropped back to the shell resting between Lovino's collarbone for a moment before he looked up at Lovino again and grinned.

"I will keep guessing until I get the right answer."

"Good luck with that." Lovino said with a roll of his eyes. Antonio laughed and finally stood up, motioning the waiter to bring them the bill. Lovino sighed loudly and put his coat back on, leaving the restaurant before Antonio could stop him.

A moment later Antonio met him again in front of the restaurant. It was late and the air was cold. Lovino was puffing out breath, watching fascinated as it condensate in the cold air. They started walking back to Bella and Ned's bakery then in silence, both of them lost in their own thoughts.

"What makes you think that knowing what I am is worth it?" Lovino asked suddenly, stopping abruptly and looking at Antonio straight in the face. Antonio gazed back at him and smiled:

"Because it's you."

Lovino searched Antonio's eyes and then up at the sky as the first snowflakes of the year fell above them.


	11. Snow

Natalia screamed in anger, and the sound resonated around her, making the walls of the cave shake and the potions rattle against each other. She tightened her fists so tightly that her nails drew blood, but the pain was lost to her as she stared at the mirror with eyes wide with fury.

Her magic wasn't working and the realization made her blood run cold in her veins. As much as she tried to get into that human's head, Antonio seemed to hold onto that little piece of recognition that she just couldn't take away from him and continued loving Lovino without a care in the world. Natalia had wondered time and time again why she couldn't win this fight, but when she saw the way that weird human had launched himself at Lovino and tried to strangle him, breaking the necklace in his desperate attempt, she finally realized _why_.

She had underestimated a mother's gift. She had thought nothing about it when she saw Lovino's wearing it, and had always regarded it as nothing but a random shell found by Lovino's mother before she died. But now, the moment the necklace left its contact with Lovino's skin and glowed brightly in the moonlight, Natalia could finally see the engravings clearly. As her mirror was magic, it glowed as well as soon as it recognized something just as magical.

Natalia wondered what her next move should be. A month had passed and she still hadn't got a full grip on the human's memories. She had to act fast, that far she was sure of, but she didn't have the time to plan something that she felt somebody enter her cave.

"Katyusha." She greeted without turning around, and hating how the anger slowly dissipated from her chest when she felt the other's presence with her. "What are you doing here?"

"Natalia, my dear sister."

The Sea Witch finally turned and stared at her older sister's face. The older mermaid had always had a worried look on her face and always clutched her hands together under her busty breasts, which, out of shyness, she covered with a cloth found on the surface, but this time she looked even more worried than usual.

"What are you doing here?" Natalia asked again. Katyusha reached for Natalia and grabbed her hand, her lips narrowing in a thin line as soon as she saw the little wounds on Natalia's palms.

"The Ocean is vast." Katyusha said and stared straight into Natalia's eyes, "But rumors travel fast."

"What did you hear this time?" Natalia asked and softly pulled her hand away from Katyusha's grip.

"Just that Julius, as he makes himself be called these days, is looking all around the Ocean for something that will bring his oldest son back or transform him in a human forever and save his life." Katyusha said.

"Lovino Vargas is now the most famous merman of the Seven Seas then." Natalia said and snorted.

"I would say that it's Julius' attempt to save his son that is having a great impact on our people's hearts." Katyusha piped in. Natalia watched her as she swam across the cave and picked the mirror up. "The merpeople are whispering to each other just how much they used to stand up for one another in the past, Natalia. It is starting to give people ideas."

Natalia loud laugh suddenly echoed in the cave as she regarded Katyusha with an amused look on her face.

"This is sweet." Natalia said, "Lovino is unknowingly starting a revolution?"

"I hear rumors, Natalia. I do not make predictions." Katyusha said and put the mirror down. "Ivan regarded the whispering as nothing more than something silly as well." She added, "But the most important this is that he now knows you are up to something."

"I make deals. It is my job." Natalia spat angrily out, abruptly turning her back to her sister and looking at everything else but the knowing look in Katyusha's eyes. "You are too kind for your own good, sister, and being worried that I am doing something that I might regret later will only worsen your health."

"You and Ivan are the only family I have left." Katyusha said, "And everybody knows about your fixation for him. Ivan included." She added. Natalia snorted and finally decided to look at her sister again. "Don't blame me for being worried."

"That's why you are here, aren't you?" Natalia asked pointing an accusing finger at her. "You want to know what the deal was, because it's the only thing the rumor doesn't mention."

Katyusha stared at her but as she didn't open her mouth to defend herself Natalia shook her head, disappointed.

"You shouldn't be worried about the deal, because I can't take what I want." Natalia said. "A necklace is protecting Lovino from harm, and in order to do so, it had managed to keep some of the human's love inside the engravings."

"That's a really strong spell." Katyusha said.

"It is indeed." Natalia agreed, "One that only the love of a mother for her child can create, and that only becomes stronger when she sacrifices herself for him."

"I thought she was merely killed from a human in one of our hunting missions." Katyusha said, her eyes widening slightly in surprise. "I forgot that Lovino had been there."

"Lovino is not aware that his mother saved him right on time and was killed in his place." Natalia said, "In fact, I am sure neither does Julius."

"And still, knowing this fact, you didn't ask for the necklace in exchange." Katyusha said, but Natalia shook her head once more.

"I didn't know she had put a protection spell in it." Natalia said, "Sacrifices without this kind of enchantments are weak."

"I see." Katyusha said, "So what then? The human's love for Lovino? You said the necklace holds some of it in the engravings."

"No, not his love, because it hadn't bloomed yet at the time." Natalia said, "His memories."

Silence fell between them and Natalia and Katyusha looked at each other for a long while. Finally Katyusha's eyes widened in understanding and suddenly grabbed Natalia's hands in hers. The Sea Witch wanted to ignore how much Katyusha was shaking, and the worried look in her sister's eyes was too much bear.

"You can't do that!" Katyusha exclaimed, her voice breaking slightly, "It will be no true love!"

"What else can I do?" Natalia asked and her voice rose in anger, "I want Ivan to remember me as the one he is supposed to love! The human's memories of Lovino Vargas will make Ivan remember me as someone important in his life, as the one he was destined to be with, and I will finally find my peace!"

"For Ivan you are already important!" Katyusha exclaimed.

"No, he is scared of me. I want him to love me back!" Natalia shouted back, "There was a spark of love in the human's memories. In Ivan's mind they will trigger his real love for me."

"I can't stop you." Katyusha said, "But that doesn't mean I won't try to make you see how fool this is. I want your happiness, Natalia, but this-!"

"Big brother will love me truly." Natalia said, "That will make me happy."

Katyusha nodded and finally let her sister go. Natalia remained silent as Katyusha turned and swam away from her.

* * *

Lovino had never felt as cold in his life as he sat down on one of the docks, looking far away in the horizon in hope of seeing the "Merry Tuna" appear as a tiny dot between the sky and the Ocean. He put his hands deep in his coat's pockets, in order to warm them up, and waited. He let his eyes wander around him until something moving under the dock caught his attention.

"I know you are there." Lovino said after a moment, fighting against the smile that was tugging at the corner of his lips. The water under the deck moved again and Feliciano finally came up on the surface with a strange expression on his face that Lovino recognized as the look his brother always got when he didn't know whether to keep being mad at Lovino or find a way to grab him and hug him close.

"How did you know?" Feliciano asked swimming a little farther away to get a better view of Lovino sitting on the dock.

"I am your older brother, Feliciano." Lovino said, jokingly, "I see and know everything."

"Really?" Feliciano asked, and Lovino burst out laughing. Feliciano pouted and splashed water at him in revenge. Lovino swore when the cold water hit him and pulled his coat even tighter around himself, while Feliciano watched his every move.

"You changed, brother." Feliciano said when Lovino had finally stopped swearing and cursing the freezing weather. Lovino looked down at him in surprise and his cheeks tinged a little red when he realized how serious Feliciano sounded.

"I just have legs now." Lovino spat, but Feliciano shook his head.

"Still you are turning into a human. You are much more open than before." Feliciano said, "You swear a lot as well… I don't know. You seem more… _at ease_." The younger Vargas trailed off, unsure whether he had found the right words or not.

"Nonsense." Lovino said. "My life is hanging by a thread. How can I be _at ease_?" He asked, speaking the last two words sarcastically.

"Might I remind you that if you hadn't lied to father and me, we would have found a solution to your problem, one that you wouldn't need to pay with your life?"

"I thought we got over that." Lovino said, rolling his eyes, but Feliciano just splashed more water at him, earning a handful of curses as an answer.

"I am not over that!" Feliciano exclaimed. "I want to understand you so much, to put myself into your place and forgive you, but I _really can't_."

Lovino watched him and pulled his scarf a little further up his face. Feliciano splashed him again and dived in the water, circling the docks twice before surfacing again.

"I love you, Lovino." Feliciano said. "I don't want to be mad at you."

"I am sorry, Feliciano." Lovino whispered so softly that he wasn't sure Feliciano had heard him. Nevertheless Feliciano suddenly looked much more relieved and reached up for Lovino's leg, which was hanging out from the dock.

"Father is searching for a cure all over the Seven Seas." Feliciano confessed. "You always told us that we don't love you and that we abandoned you, but it's not true. Can you see the truth now?"

"You are living much better than you in the North." Lovino just muttered instead, and Feliciano sighed.

"I had to work hard to get where I am." Feliciano said, "It's you who stayed behind."

"Well, you didn't have to deal with the Guards all the time, did you?" Lovino spat then, "In the South we are living in fear! You are fucking aware of that fact, at least!"

"Yes, but running away from your problems, won't fix it!" Feliciano exclaimed back and his brother's angry tone of voice took Lovino totally by surprise. He stared at Feliciano for a long while before he finally calmed himself down:

"What was I supposed to do?" Lovino asked softly, and Feliciano took his time before coming out with a good answer.

"Father's attempts to search for a cure for you are making the merpeople realize how much we stopped caring for each other." Feliciano suddenly said, "There is a lot we need to change in our World and that's a good start, isn't it?"

Lovino didn't speak for a long while and his gave lingered on the horizon, where a tiny dot he recognized as the "Merry Tuna" appeared. Feliciano followed his gaze and sighed again.

"Then again… you look much happier as a human." Feliciano said, and Lovino looked down at him again.

"Everything is so different here." Lovino said softly. "Did you know that when the snow gathers altogether it forms white, fluffy looking mountains? Bella and Ned, the humans I am living with, decided to make a snowman out of that stuff. I-it was kind of childish, actually." Lovino added and his cheeks turned red under Feliciano's surprised face.

"What are you trying to tell me?"

"If I ever come back, which I don't think I will." Lovino said after a moment and looked at Feliciano straight in the eyes, "I will not find the strength to hunt humans anymore."

Feliciano suddenly smiled and reached for Lovino's leg once more.

"Maybe we can change that as well." Feliciano said. Lovino laughed and Feliciano's smile turned wider. "When you come back we are going to work on it."

"You should hide." Lovino said instead and his eyes turned suddenly sad. "The humans will be back any moment now."

Feliciano nodded and mouthed an 'I love you' again before disappearing into the Ocean. Lovino knew that Feliciano was still in the vicinity when Antonio finally went ashore, and he was glad that his younger brother wasn't as reckless as to make himself been seen. In the space of some minutes, the harbor filled up with people, as the sailors unloaded the fish and prepared everything for the market.

"Hey." Antonio said approaching him, his steps making the wood on the dock creak. Lovino stood up and felt a shiver run down his spine when Antonio smiled brightly at him. Lovino blamed all the ice cold water that Feliciano had splashed at him when he got angry.

"Aren't you supposed to work at the bakery?" Antonio asked, to which Lovino just shrugged.

"I skipped work." He said, and Antonio laughed wholeheartedly at Lovino's nonchalant answer.

"To wait for me?" Antonio asked when the laughter subsided, and there was a spark in his green eyes that Lovino couldn't ignore.

"As if." Lovino spat immediately, hoping he could finally stop shivering. "I was just searching for a good spot to hide from Bella."

Antonio hummed, as if he believed Lovino's every word, and suddenly looked pensive. They started walking towards the harbor together and Antonio found himself unexpectedly pressed arm to arm with Lovino, who looked at everything else but at the way Antonio's gazed at him from time to time.

"David is thinking of winterize the "Merry Tuna"." Antonio said as to start a conversation. "Fish don't have much interest in food nowadays and our nets are much emptier than in summer."

"I know. W-we-! _Fishes _are cold-blooded creatures." Lovino said and he almost bit his lip at the almost slip of his tongue. "And what are you going to do until spring?"

Antonio shrugged and they continued walking along the snowy streets in comfortable silence. Nevertheless, it didn't last long, as Antonio suddenly stopped and faced Lovino.

"Is Bella still angry at me?" Antonio asked, and Lovino suddenly found himself a breath away from Antonio's face.

"I don't really know." Lovino said and his eyes dropped down to Antonio's lips. He gulped when he realized that Antonio noticed and the latter lips were now slowly turning slightly upwards. Lovino made an abrupt step backwards and looked straight into Antonio's eyes again. "Are you ever going to tell me why you two fought, or is it a secret?"

"Not really." Antonio said and scratched a point behind his ears in embarrassment. "I mean it's not really a secret, but-!"

"You are not coming to the bakery anymore." Lovino accused him, "I thought you loved her- well, her waffles and her coffee."

"I do…?" Antonio said but it came out more as a question than a statement. He suddenly wasn't sure if Lovino was accusing him of abandoning Bella or something else entirely and when Lovino suddenly puffed out his cheeks and looked away, Antonio was by now sure he was missing a point.

"I mean…" Antonio continued and he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, "We are talking about waffles, right? Not something else?"

"You should know." Lovino spat, but then his eyes fixed on a point in a distance: "But maybe now it's a good time as any to apologize to her and come back to m-! _To_ the bakery."

Antonio looked around and finally noticed Bella walking in the snow towards them. She shot a knowing look at Antonio and then a much angrier one at Lovino, who just waved casually at her.

"Where have you been?" Bella asked Lovino. "We needed you. We were really busy today!"

"Sorry but I-!" Lovino started facing Bella almost in defiance.

"He was with me." Antonio piped in, "We needed some extra hands as well."

Lovino and Bella turned to look at him in disbelief, and Antonio sighed:

"Okay, he was waiting _for_ me." Antonio confessed and Lovino let out a frustrated yell, "Apparently he is worried about us."

"Us?" Bella asked blinking in surprise at Lovino, who was sending angry looks at Antonio's way.

"Us." Antonio repeated pointing to Bella and then at himself. "He wants _us_ to make up."

"I am not mad at Antonio, Lovino." Bella said turning to face Lovino and hugging him close. "I am so sorry I made you worry! You are such a friend!"

"That's why he skipped work today." Antonio added, and Lovino widened his eyes at him.

"That was not what I was trying to-!" Lovino started, but then he shook his head. "No, fine. Yeah. That's what I wanted."

"Oh, Lovino!" Bella exclaimed and she hugged Lovino once more, "And here I thought you were just lazy and skipped work just to get away from us!"

"He would never." Antonio said and put an arm around Lovino's shoulder. Lovino ducked, collected some snow and threw it at Antonio's face, who spluttered.

"This means war!" Antonio exclaimed with a laugh, kneeled down and collected some snow as well.

"You would never!" Lovino exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at him. "I am freezing here and-! _Hey_!" He shouted when a snowball hit him right on the head, and he turned to look at Bella in disbelief.

"I guess, this is my way to make up to you, Antonio." Bella said and laughed at Lovino's shocked face. Antonio laughed and threw a snowball at her, missing her by an inch when she ducked just in time.

"So are we fine?" Antonio asked, and Bella smiled warmly at him. Lovino rolled his eyes at the sky and threw two snowballs with unbelievable precision at Bella's and Antonio's chests, who yelped in surprise.

"You are such idiots!" Lovino exclaimed. Bella and Antonio shared a look and then grinned widely at each other. "No." Lovino admonished. "Stay right where you are!"

But it was too late as two snowballs hit him, one on the arm and the other on the leg.

"You are such bastards!" Lovino exclaimed, and kneeled down to collect some more snow.

It was like that, drenched in water and snickering like kids, that Ned found the three of them some hour later. He rolled his eyes and wondered if he should just return back to the bakery, but then decided to just join in. After all, hitting Antonio repeatedly with snowballs felt kind of satisfying.

* * *

After a long time thinking about it, Natalia reasoned that the only thing she could do to complete the spell was to take the necklace away from Lovino. Although it seemed like the easiest way, in reality there were a lot of uncertainties that could make it difficult to achieve her goal. Nevertheless, Natalia will do everything she could, no matter what the cost would be, in order to steal that necklace.

Natalia looked into the mirror for a long while, her lips turning into a thin line when she saw the way Antonio was looking at Lovino time and time again, and put it away with a snort. She swam around the cave searching through her little bottles and let out a noise of delight when she found the right one. She didn't lose any time and drink it all in one gulp and dropped the empty phial float down towards the bottom of the cave.

She was out of there before the phial reached the bottom of the cave.


End file.
